Kingdom Hearts 4: Evigilatio
by Dr. Darric
Summary: After the Great War, Sora and co. return home, but something new is brewing, something no one could ever expect.
1. Chapter 1: Adventus

**Chapter 1: Adventus**

Life was great. No, scratch that: it was perfect. Living everyday to its fullest, doing everything that you could possibly ever want, and _having_ everything that would ever want or need in life. The people of this universe were striving off of and loving happiness, the Light out of the deepest, darkest trenches of their hearts shining through and breaking down the Darkness, so that barely any at all even existed. It had always been like this.

The beauty of knowing everything and nothing that goes on around you is absolutely splendid, for it is true about what they say: ignorance is bliss, after all. The people of this universe denied it all. They are ignorant and close-minded: Darkness never existed! the Light was never overthrown!...but it was overthrown...for a short while. The people receded into their corners of doubt and lies and slept there, comfortably while their hides were being saved, being protected, by someone that they would probably never meet or ever have the proper fortune to meet. But was their protection far more important than the innocence of what most of the adults would still call a child? Probably not, probably so. Who is it that can place a price on the protection of others?

This protection this young man gave was during the Heartless War and most of the worlds that were afflicted with this monstrosity still show wear and tear of countless attacks and raids by both sides of the war, both sides not really knowing what could possibly be around the next corner. But now, the worlds were all in a peaceful daze, everyone man, woman, and child going through their daily routines the same exact way they did before and during the war.

But on a tiny world, one that if you looked up into the vast, beautiful cosmos, you probably could not even see it winking at you, there was a teenager. A gentle, flowing breeze with a taste of sea salt was drifting around everywhere, stinging the eyes of any inhabitants on the small island that this teenager and his friends once played on while they were children. But now reaching the edge of his youth, he could barely fit anywhere he wanted to fit. Anyone that looked at him would instantly recognize him from his outward appearance. His hair style remained the same, relatively, only the length of it being different (it was a lot shorter than what it used to be due to the war, being weighed down). Even though it was unnaturally spiky and stuck out at all odds and ends, it still swayed in the wind, the chocolaty locks waving to match the slow, tedious movements of the ocean's waves. And where his hair matched the motion of the waves, his eyes definitely matched the deep color of the sea. Two pool-like orbs of a deep cerulean were always shining with the deepest of emotions, making it quite difficult for him to mask his true feelings, but that was before the war, and now, he could become as tough as the earth within a moment's notice. His body was almost the same, being rather lanky still, but now having a fair amount of muscle from the continuous movement and working out he did during battle. He no longer had that same awkward teenager atmosphere about him. His strangely pale, tanned, scarred skin gave him the credit for what he truly is, for what he should be viewed as: a Man. But no one did. Those that gave him credit for his heroic deeds still referred to him as boy, and if he was lucky, a teenager.

But this boy sat on an old beach, the soft white sand being pushed around just as much by the breeze as the soft, slow, and low tide that was washing up upon the beach. He stared out to the horizon, the sun setting slowly, shades of purples and blues dressed the sky, and stars of all sizes and intensities of light winked and blinked at him. He was not particularly thinking of anything important, but just relaxing, getting away from the welcome home party his mother and his friends' parents decided to throw for them after coming back home safely. At the sight of her son, tears spilled out of Ana's blue eyes and over her soft pink skin. She sobbed uncontrollably when hugging him, whispering her thanks to the gods that they allowed her only baby to return to her arms safely, but he just was not feeling the attention that he and the rest of his party were receiving. All types of food, confetti, banners, balloons, it was too much. He could have just settled for a nice home cooked meal with just his mom, since it has been nearly 4 years. So, here was, at the small island, alone, watching the stars twinkle. It brought about a certain peace that he established during the war.

_As long as the stars are shimmering, then everything is okay._

This was his mantra, and whenever he was worried, all he had to do was make sure that everything was going fine in the universe. He was lost in watching the stars, so lost in fact that he failed to hear the crunching of the sand as two people walked up onto the beach, rapidly approaching the distracted teenager.

"Hey, Sora!" a soft voice called from down the beach. It was sweet and caring, but forceful. Sora snapped out of his trance and turned to look at who it was that called his name.

Walking towards him was his love interest for as long a he could remember. Kairi moved to him gracefully, her dark auburn hair tied into a ponytail blowing gently in the wind. Her eyes still remained the same peaceful and carefree nature that was held behind them and that was probably what the best thing about her was. That even after being in the war, she could still look at the world through such beautiful eyes. Her smile was as bright as it ever was, and her clothing was getting Sora stirred up a little. She was sporting a black, strapless shirt with a short white skirt that stopped mid-thigh. And even though the war ended over a week ago, she still had on the silver shoulder plates and silver greaves. On her waving left hand was a short white gauntlet and on her right wrist was a bracelet. Sora could have called, no, _screamed_ out his love for her at that moment, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Because attached to her right hand was his other best friend, Riku.

The barely older teenager had barely changed, other than small parts and fragments of his skin being shades of inky blackness or blues imitating black. His silver hair was cut short for the war just the same as Sora's was and his blue-green eyes were now cold and unforgiving. But as he was walking with Kairi, a piece of humanity was still clinging to them, showing that could only be mistaken for as kindness. His build changed over the course of the war, becoming much more bulky than what was customary to his mother and father, who did not recognize him at first glance, but broke down the same way that Sora's mother did. As he got closer, Sora saw that he was wearing an ancient, frayed black jersey with silver sports shorts. His left hand was connected to Kairi's and their fingers were interlocked.

Quickly masking all negative emotions that could be given off immediately, Sora rose to his feet and walked over to his two friends. "Hey, guys! Why did you two come out here?"

"To look for you, of course! I see even after the war you're just a lazy bum!" Kairi teased, sticking her tongue out at Sora. Sora and Riku both chuckled as Sora put both of his behind his head, striking his signature pose. "But all jokes aside, we were both worried about you. We came to look for you to make sure that you were feeling okay. Your mom was a little put off by you abruptly leaving the way you did."

Sora noticed the Riku made an uncomfortable squirm when Kairi mentioned that 'they were both worried', but he just put it behind himself. He was staring at the beautiful young woman in front of him and before he could control it, two years worth of guilt and regret flashed from his eyes, and quickly shook his head, trying to regather his thoughts.

"Yeah, I just wasn't...feeling the celebration...I didn't really like all of the attention I was getting," he told them both honestly, scratching the back of his head.

"What did you expect, Mr. Keyblade Master?" Riku asked him sarcastically, a grin appearing on his face. Kairi raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle that was threatening to be released at this comment. Sora just chuckled about it, still scratching his head.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I think I'm about to head back to my place. I should apologize." Sora stretched and turned away from his friends, preparing to walking back to his boat. As he started walking away, a look of surprise suddenly crossed over Kairi's face as she remembered something.

"Hey, Sora!" she called down the beach to said teenager, who had just stepped into his tiny boat. He looked over at the couple quizzically, wondering they wanted now. "The King left your medal on the kitchen table! He was going to present it to you, but left so suddenly!"

"All right! I'll make sure to get it!" Sora called back to Kairi. "Goodnight, Kairi! Goodnight, Riku!" he yelled, pulling the oars out and getting ready to steer himself back to the Main Island, so he could talk to his mom again, but alone. He really had no idea how he was going to approach his mother about anything not regarding the war since he definitely knew she was going to bring it up some how. He would just need to find a way to jump around and dodge the question. He did not think it possible at first, but it was going to happen. He placed both of the oars into the water, and started pushing himself through the water. When he was a few yards away from the shore, Sora looked up to snag a gander at his two best friends. It practically broke his heart watching who was considered his brother to be staring so lovingly and longingly. The brunette just swallowed his fears and worries and turned his face away from the nauseating couple, making his journey back home with a stony face, determined to get himself home without thinking too hard about love that could have been.

* * *

By the time Sora finally reached the docks, the sun had finally set, the cold, vast night sky being peppered and pierced by tiny white and yellow lights, with the occasional red one. He sighed contentedly knowing that everyone in the universe was safe for another night after eradicating the Heartless and defeating their master, Xehanort. He quickly shook his heads, scrambling the thoughts away so as if not to think of the past at this exact moment and began his trek home.

It was lonely on the way to his house; every street lined up with the same plain houses and same plain mailboxes. Not a single dwelling stood out with originality and this struck a bad chord with Sora, who was now remembering every world he had ever been to, each with its own people with their own lifestyles, being completely different and strange compared to anything he had ever seen before. It was a great experience, traversing the universe to its farthest corners, and he was missing it with each passing second.

"Get it together, man," he said quietly to himself. "You have to get your mind off of everything. Get home, apologize to your mother, and get some rest." He stopped walking and realized that he was speaking to himself. It was not the first time he actually noticed (seeing as during the war he would naturally speak to himself during long nights when he was separated from Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, and the King as a source of comfort), but he just chuckled softly to himself and continued on his small journey home, not realizing that he had actually been walking long enough that his house was less than half of a block away.

As he approached his mimicry of a home, he paid close attention to the solitary window of the kitchen. It was still illuminated and through drawn curtains, he could spot the silhouette of a woman who was hold a cup containing something, or possibly nothing. It did not appear as if the woman were drinking it if there was anything, for the cup was just sitting on the table, held by her hands. Sora braced himself and stepped up to the door, preparing himself for a conversation that he felt was much needed for him and his mother.

He hesitated, not truly understanding why he should be feeling the way he was feeling. He was worried about being viewed differently by other people, but most importantly, he was afraid of his mother viewing as a monster for not showing any emotions when his friends started stories about the war, raids on heartless and nobodies and the like. He felt like he was a monster since he was the one who committed most of the murders of countless men. Even though he knew that they were backing the wrong side of the war, he just could not help but to feel a tickle of remorse at the back of his mind. Swallowing his fears temporarily, he placed his hand upon the old, weathered brass door knob and opened the front door to his home

Upon his entry, he noticed that there were still many streams of green, blue, red, and yellow confetti all across the sitting room, making the room look as if a party monster had thrown up his meals for the day here. Sparkling party hats were everywhere also, creating a glare that was partially blinding Sora, causing him to stumble as he tried to make his way to the kitchen and accidentally slamming his shin up against a low-set coffee table. Inhaling sharply, he raised up his leg to place his hands against where he assumed a bruise would form. After reacting dramatically for a moment, he quickly realized that he had been in a war and that he was still getting injured by furniture. He laughed quietly to himself and started to walk to the kitchen again.

When he entered the rather large kitchen, the white, blaring light causing his vision to waver a bit as his pupils readjusted to the sheer amounts of rays. He was confused as to how light could have such a negative effect on him, but then he remembered that this was not the same Light that he was fighting for on other worlds. He shook his head, irritated at himself for still being in such a strange mindset that everything he thought of had to do about the war. He was not intending any of it to be that way. Once his mind was free of itself he saw what Kairi was talking about earlier. Near the very edge of the table that was closest to Sora sat a small pin, no larger than size of the top of his thumb. It was rounded, but only slightly, making it pop and standout more than any of the other Plain Jane medals Sora had received in the past 4 years. It was made out of three circle, the one in the middle being the largest and the other two being exactly the same size. All three were formed together to create the trademark symbol of the King of Disney Castle, Mickey Mouse. This medal that Sora was now holding in his hand was the most prestigious award that anyone of any army could possibly receive. The Order of the Mouse. Looking over its beautifully polished gold surface, Sora turned it over in his hand, unclasping it and pinning it to his jacket. He smiled over himself with pride until he looked up from his chest and made eye contact with his mother, who was smiling at him faintly, ghosts of tears on her face and eyes that screamed every emotion that could possibly exist.

Sora's smile and excitement faltered and died quickly at the sight of his mother and he broke eye contact, looking down at his iron greaves and faded leather shoes that had inky and bloody spots on them. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, afraid that his mother probably heard it.

_Stop being such a baby about everything and just talk to your mother._ That same old voice that was a major guidance factor during the war told him, and he nodded to himself, raising his eyes and meeting his mother's stare.

"Hey, Sora," Ana spoke softly, her voice scratchy and strained. He could tell that she just finished crying and he was not able to tell if she was going to break down in front of him again. He just attempted to give her his best Sora smile and walked right over to the table and sat down at the opposite end of the table.

"Hey, mom. I'm really sorry about earlier," he began, scratching the back of his head nervously. "It's just that after everything we went through, I just didn't want to be surrounded by a lot of people celebrating everything that I...we accomplished." His voice cracked out of pain at mentioning himself and his smile fell completely. He just sat there, staring at the nicely carved table that his father had built years before Sora was born.

"Don't worry about it, honey. It wasn't exactly my idea to throw the gathering, but I did have a hand in it. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." Her voice was caring and soothing, but in it was something stern that Sora had long since forgotten. He had forgotten the sound of a mother's voice. She smiled at him gently and looked down at her cup, seemingly realizing that the cup she was holding was no longer steaming. Her reaction was almost comical, jumping up immediately and running over to the stove.

The was a large blue tea pot on the stove, just sitting there. It was lying dormant since not a single trace of steam was erupting from it. Ana cranked the stove on and pulled the tea pot off of the stove, moving over to the sink to fill it with some new water. After filling it up ¾ of the way, she placed the lid back on it and returned it to its respective placement on the stove, the blue flames causing the base of the tea pot to glow a faint red. She returned to her seat, seemingly out of breath and looked over to Sora who giving her an incredulous look. For that single moment, mother and son made eye contact and together the two of them laughed, Sora's laugh being a direct echo of his mother's, the only major difference was that Ana's laugh was light and bubbly.

After a good moment of laughter, the settled down, the mother gazing lovingly at her son, the son gazing back at his mother. She was about to try to spark up a conversation, but the tea pot on the stove began to whistle. Hopping out of her seat once again, she went over to the nice oak-carved cabinets and removed a small glass cup from within. She walked back to the table, placed the cup in front of Sora, walked over to the stove, picked up the boiling pot of tea, and walked back over to the table to pour her son some tea. Sora was grateful for the tea, not having anything refreshing at all during the except for random times when water was offered at the base. He took a whiff of the tea, inhaling its strong, soothing scent and sipped on it quietly while Ana poured herself another cup.

"I'm glad that you're home, Sora," Ana told him, smiling at him as she set the tea pot down upon the table. "It's been four years. Four years of me staying awake all night, crying myself to sleep, hoping that you would come back to me every single day. But you didn't." Sora was starting to feel terrible for his actions until his mom continued. "But now, look at you! I wasn't expecting my boy to return home as a man!" She giggled merrily.

That phrase, that word, struck a chord in Sora's heart. Someone has finally given him the same recognition a man would receive. He smiled wide, his blue eyes shimmering in the light as he looked upon his mother, her radiance shinning off of her as she spoke of her son.

"Then we got the letter that you, Kairi, and Riku would all return home from a war that was taking place. At the time, I wasn't really worried about the war, I was just wanting you home. But now that you are home, I think you should tell me about the war," she raised her cup of tea to her mouth and sipped on it daintily. She took into account the widening of Sora's eyes as she mentioned that he should tell her the story.

"All right, mom. I'll tell," Sora finally said after what felt like an eternity of silence. "It's going to be a long night, so we might need some more tea." As soon as he suggested more tea, Ana placed another pot on the stove, the one on the table still half full and steaming. She turned back around to sit down and listen to her son's tale of his journey.

Sora started from the very beginning, talking first of his planning to run away with his friends, to the massive storm that engulfed the island, the summoning of the Keyblade, the onslaught of heartless, to him being swallowed up into the storm as the world was consumed, spitting him up somewhere completely strange to him. He talked about meeting two of his next best friends that his mother had met earlier that night and his meeting up with Riku, but how Riku was acting a little funny towards Sora. After talking about leaving Traverse Town to look for Riku and Kairi, he talked briefly about every world he went to, telling her about all of the people he met and all of the fun things he experienced. But then he got to what was known as the Hollow Bastion, where he met a beast who was once a man, and where he met Riku once again. But this time, Riku took his Keyblade from him and left him with one of the old wooden swords they sparred with as children. And along with the loss of his Keyblade, he also lost Donald and Goofy. He made his way through the twisted and dark castle until he was finally able to regain control over the Keyblade and he and Riku squared off, Sora being victorious. He told her of facing off of against a dragon and coming out the champion. He then talked about learning that Riku was not really Riku, but just him being possessed by the madman who was the entire reason for the war. He told her of releasing his own Heart with the Keyblade of People's Hearts to release Kairi's Heart that was stationed inside of himself, turning him into a Heartless. He found his way to Kairi and she used her Light to return him to his normal body. He talked about sealing the Keyhole to Hollow Bastion and running into who he later found out to be Xemnas. It was truly challenging and he barely got out alive. After this, he completely skipped over the battle against Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and jumping straight into waking up in Twilight Town, his clothes far to small for himself and having fuzzy thoughts in his mind, even to this day. He jumped onto the train to head over to Yen Sid's place, getting new clothes and learning a lifetime of information. He next spoke of meeting the

King officially in Hollow Bastion which was restored and went back to its old name, Radiant Garden. Meeting the Organization XIII, who were a major threat, and defeating most of them were in this little section. He talked again about all of the worlds he went to this time around, until he got The World That Never Was. This is where he told the longest portion of his story, running through the city, fighting several thousand Heartless and Nobodies. He tells her of his fighting of Xigbar, Luxord, and Saïx, the last refusing to take him to see Kairi. He met up with Riku and Kairi again, and he and Riku were left by themselves to defeat the Nobody of the Man who was the creator of this war.

Sora looked out of the kitchen window and noticed that the sun was far above the horizon now. Looking at the clock in his kitchen, he saw that it said 9:00 a.m. already. "Maybe we should finish this story some other time. We should both get some rest," Sora told his mother, getting to his feet and yawning. He was almost out of the kitchen door before his mom spoke, asking Sora a question that completely took him by surprise.

"Sora, are you okay?" she asked her son, her voice trembling with emotion. She stared at him with intense eyes and he tried to push all of his negative feelings he experienced during the war away, but he knew that she knew that he would be lying.

"I'm just fine, mom," he responded, giving her a faint smile that she knew was fake. Ana got out of her chair and walked over to stand directly in front of her son. She wrapped both of her arms around him in only an embrace a mother could give, and before either of them knew what was happening, Sora's shoulders started to shake as he succumbed to the emotions he fought so desperately to keep quiet. For the first time in years, Sora released all of his pain, all of his grief, all of his agony. He cried into his mother's shoulder, clutching her tightly as if she were about to fade away. He sobbed and was babbling incoherently, but his mother understood exactly what was going on. She just made soothing sounds and rubbed his, occasionally kissing the top of Sora's spiky head.

Even though Sora was the one to save everyone, even though he was the one to actually do a man's job, he was still that same 14 year old who was thrust into the world without knowing anything.

_He is still a boy._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_I'm not too well with writing fanfiction. I hope you enjoy this, even though it is fairly boring right now. Things should spice up a bit, and I hope you enjoy the read. Reviews are always welcome._

Massive shadows were rising from the ground, some of them appearing completely animated and (if you were not in situation) cute, and some of them were wicked looking, seeming as if they just hopped out of the worst nightmare that anyone could possibly have. As the more dangerous looking ones finally pulled themselves free from the prison of the world, the roared and screamed, not from fear or anger, but just because that was all they could do. These things were practically animals, being some of the most primal creatures to exist. Their black, inky bodies were glistening in the darkness, but their deep, bright and yellow eyes were a major contrast with their bodies, making it seem as if they were much brighter than what they really were. There were 7 of these shadows now, looming over the ground, awaiting their command to strike. Five of them (the cute ones) were small shadows with little antennae sticking out of their bulbous heads, with limbs that were nice and short, but on its arms had ridiculously sharp claws, and its legs were rather sharp feet. But the two that stood out the most were about seven feet tall, their four muscular arms dangling down before and at the end of each arm were five, six-inch long claws. Their legs were equally as muscular as their arms and five sharp claws were there to replace their feet. They had long snouts, but instead of having an angular mouth it looked as if they had torn their own mouth open, bright, black teeth shining through. Their eyes, though, were the same bright, yellow eyes, and other than their inky skin (if you could even call it that) that was their only resemblance. The Shadows were there to harness the power of the Shadow Lords, to keep them calm and to not attack them, since these two Heartless were the most feral of the bunch, and even Xehanort himself had no idea how he was able to control.

After the Heartless were now situated, a bright blast of silver light erupted over the ground. Four silvery creatures leaped out of the light, the way their bodies were moving making them look absolutely repulsive and abominable. Each of them had extremely thin bodies and only two of them had actually hands and not just the customary pointed solitary finger. The two which had the single finger were known as Dusks, their bodies moving in erratic ways that gave them the appearance of dancing. Their large heads were already unzipped, showing the excessively sharp teeth beneath and the two Dusks were growling and grunting at each other and making strange noises that could be out of a science fiction movie. The other two that were with the Dusks were really strange. Their bodies were long and thin, but the two of them had eyes, which is not typical for a Nobody. Their faces looked extremely humanoid, except they were lacking mouths. Each ones hands were covered with what looked like metal, but they were both quiet, listening to the Shadow Lords screaming and they all shared a look with the Shadows, who gave them all a human-shrug. These Slenders were also awaiting their commands and orders, but they had a feeling that they would not have to wait very long.

A black portal opened and both the Heartless and the Nobodies all dropped down to what could be called their knees, to praise their creator, their master. Their god. An old man was the first to walk out of the portal. His head was lacking hair, except for a silver goatee that coated and curled around his chin. His pointed ears and stark, yellow eyes gave him an inhuman appearance, and his crooked back made him look completely feeble in his state, but those who could even last for more than a heartbeat against this man knew that he was more powerful than he looked. His black overcoat was fluttering around his ankles as the sudden wind draped itself over the surrounding area, and his boots made soft crunching noises as he walked across the torn ground. Attached to his shadow was a large menacing figure that hovered above the ground. It was his Guardian, and it was the second in command to the Heartless, all of those Heartless present beginning to shake out of fear. After Master Xehanort was clear of the portal, someone began to exit the portal. Wearing a black and red body suit that looked as if it were made of his muscles, a silver helmet that had black glass covering his face, Vanitas walked out stepping right beside his Master, the portal closing behind him. Underneath his mask, he smirked evilly at the quaking Heartless, that even in his shadow, these pathetic beings could still feel fear.

"I'm glad that you are all here," Master Xehanort started, his face twisting into a sinister grin and the Guardian disappearing into his shadow finally. At the sight of this, the Heartless stopped quaking and relaxed a little as their Master continued speaking. "I was going to attack the Keyblade wielders myself with Vanitas here and a few other friends, but I wanted to test my newest creations. The Shadow Lords and Slenders shouldn't fail in completely destroying those children, so I want you all to wait for Sora and his friends to get here, then I want you _all _to attack that little bastard. Am I clear? Do you all understand me?" Master Xehanort looked at all of the Heartless and Nobodies with cold, dark, and unforgiving eyes, before his face split into a dark smile. "Excellent. And if you fail this mission and somehow escape, you're going to wish that the Keyblade brat ended your existence when I get my hands on you." With this being said, he turned away from the Heartless and without even opening a portal vanished into thin air, leaving behind Vanitas who was grumbling about old men too lazy to take people with them. The Dark being put his hand up and opened a portal which closed immediately after absorbing him.

Sora had been listening in on this entire conversation from a cliff about 15 feet about the meeting place. He had been sent to scout out ahead and found this all taking place, apparently him and his friends getting ready to walk into a trap. With a gulp at taking in the appearances of the Shadow Lords and Slenders again, he quietly walked off of the cliff and glided back to their small camp which was about a quarter of a mile away. After a good 6 minutes of rapid gliding, Sora saw five tents in the horizon. Old coals were in the center of the encampment, but five people were all sitting around the light stream of smoking drifting up into the air. As soon as Sora dropped down, Mickey was rushing to him, a serious look plastered to his face, but nowadays, everyone had a serious look.

"Sora, status report. What are we looking?" he asked seriously, his high voice remaining calm.

Sora walked over to the old coals and sat on a rock before addressing everyone there. "There aren't too many Heartless or Nobodies ahead. I took out a few of them before I ran across something interesting," he began, looking everyone in the eyes once before continuing. "I ran across a meeting with Xehanort, Vanitas, and a handful of Heartless and Nobodies. They didn't say anything that was important, but there are these...new ones that were there with the Heartless." He heard a gulp from someone, but ignored it. "Xehanort called the huge Heartless ones Shadow Lords and the tall Nobodies Slenders. The Shadow Lords were extremely loud and violent, roaring and screaming at each other and the other Heartless until Xehanort and the Guardian showed up. He did say something, though, that might be of a little importance." The quiet tension amongst the group was extremely thick. "He pretty much said that those new ones were going to be able to completely destroy us, and for a moment, I actually believed him." There was a feminine gasp sounded from Kairi, who tightened her grip on Riku's hand.

"Welp, that's that, then. Keyblade wielders, I want you in armor in one minute. Same goes for you two, too," he pretty much shouted at Donald Duck and Goofy Goof, both standing up fast and running to their tents. "We haven't run across much in the past three days, but if Xehanort was there, then this must be serious. No matter how small, prepare for war."

Not even 10 seconds later and Sora was already standing before the King at attention. Even though they could summon the armor magically, he always felt better about physically putting it on his body. Sora's armor was a light brown, several plates overlapping with black gauntlets that ran up to his elbow and black greaves. His helmet was missing the face mask after an attack on a world and Sora got in the way of an attack, permanently damaging the armor. He did not mind though, it did not make him a worse fighter, it actually made him better, seeing as he would be much more careful when dodging attacks and fighting people. No one wants to get stabbed in the face.

A moment after Sora, both Riku and Kairi stepped out of their tents, both wearing their armor and holding their Keyblades at the ready. Riku's armor was in the same design as Sora's, except he just had regular gloves instead of the gauntlets and no greaves. His armor was a light silver with a few random plates being green. He held the Way to the Dawn over his shoulder like a baseball bat. Kairi's armor was a lot smaller, the plates accentuating her body more than the boys' armor. The major difference though was the bright red of her armor and a single silver gauntlet on her left arm. In her right hand she held the Destiny's Embrace proudly. She looked over at Riku, and even though both of their face masks were down, Sora knew that she was giving him a loving look, that same look that he would never receive from her.

Donald and Goofy emerged from their tents, Goofy wearing a light knight's armor, his body covered in light steel plates. On his back was a pointed shield and he held a winged shield that everyone knew as Save the King, an extremely powerful weapon that made everyone that Goofy meant business. Donald was wearing strange, wispy wizard robes, the bottom of it running completely to the ground. He wore his mage's hat and an odd gleam could be seen in his eyes as he held onto his most prized staff, the Save the Queen. Both animals looked at each other gave each other a nod of determination.

The King stood before them all, wearing only white shorts, white gloves, white shoes, and a bright, shining white helmet, his Kingdom Key D held tightly just above the ground. He looked at everyone, and with an impressed nod, he called Sora forth to lead them to the Heartless and Nobodies. Sora gave the King a grand smiled and ran off at a pace, determined to get to the Heartless as soon as possible. Not even five minutes later, Sora and company all arrived at the small cliff, looking down at the brutal looking Heartless and the disturbing Nobodies. Sora turned to Mickey, the two of them getting ready to discuss a plan with the others, but Riku jumped down, feeling that it was not necessary to have a plan when facing this few amount of enemies.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, he rolled and took off towards the Shadows, dispelling one of them with a single blow, a bright pink heart rising up and dissipating a moment afterward. He grinned at himself, pride shining through him as he rushed to destroy another Shadow, but one of the Shadow Lords flashed across, blocking the Keyblade with its claws. Riku tried to assert more power and pressure to his Keyblade, but the Heartless was still holding its ground, not showing any weakness from the attack. Riku was worried, and through his worry, his defense faltered. His arms swung out wide as the Shadow Lord counter-attacked him, and when it saw an opening, it took it, sinking its thick, sharp claws into Riku's chest. Riku went flying and crashed into the cliff wall laying there, unconscious. His armor's chest was barely moving, signaling that he was still breathing, but did not matter, as the Heartless and Nobodies all appeared before Riku, all of them getting ready to strike.

With a blood curdling scream, Kairi shot rays of Light at the Heartless, destroying the Shadows with ease. She leaped over the cliff and fell on top of one of the heads of the Dusks, causing the Nobody to collapse, but not disappear. The Nobody quickly snaked away from Kairi, standing, if you could call it that, beside the Slenders. The Shadow Lords started roaring at Kairi both of them jumping up to pounce on her. She raised her Keyblade, prepared to block the attack, but Goofy was now standing in front of her, bashing his shield against the Heartless' face. The Heartless reared back and gave another roar, not out of pain, but from anger. It rushed Goofy but was stricken by a massive bolt of lightning. It was dazed for a moment before looking up to see Donald floating about 20 feet above the ground. Before the Shadow Lords could even react properly, two Keyblades appeared, one silver and the other golden slicing between its head. The blow of the two Kingdom Keys had enough force to just cause the Heartless to explode, a massive black heart floating up.

Everyone was distracted by the black heart, not knowing exactly what a black heart meant. While they were distracted, the Slenders stretched their arms and one picked up Goofy and the other Kairi, both bring them down to slam them into the ground, both of the warriors crying out in pain. Sora had seen enough of his friends getting pushed around. He concentrated all of his energy and power on his Keyblade and held it up to the sky as a bright beam of Light connected with the tip of the blade. All of those still conscious had to cover their eyes from the excessively blinding light. When it had faded, Sora was floating about three feet about the ground. Usually when he was floating, he would be wielding two Keyblades, but this time, only a single Keyblade was present. The most powerful of Keyblades, the Ultima Weapon sat blazing in Sora's hands, its fish bone pattern and crystal-blue teeth shimmering with a deep inner light. He lifted the massive Key above his head and brought it down in a single instant, the only surviving Shadow Lord and all of the Nobodies quickly jumping out of the way. Once his Keyblade struck the ground, a deep blue light erupting from the earth. After the light passed, a deep chasm was left there, everyone in Sora's party gulping from nervousness at the amount of power that was released from that single attack. Sora jumped and started to chase after the Heartless and Nobodies and landing several hits on them before they could even think straight. Without any effort, Sora vanquished the Dusks and was standing calmly in front of the Shadow Lord and the Slenders.

And the last thing Sora remembers from this scene is looking over at his best friend and brother, seeing Riku's body engulfed in a black light, his arms turning inky and Heart showing up on his chest. His best friend screamed as Kairi was leaning over him, trying to get the Darkness to separate itself from him. Riku was tainted.

Sora woke up with a scream. His breathing was rapid, inhaling and exhaling in a lightning-like succession. He looked around and took in his surroundings, realizing that he was still in his room and not in the war anymore. Relaxed slightly, keeping his senses stretched outward just in case something were to happen, you could never be too sure. He heard footsteps approaching him from outside of his room door and he quickly rolled over his bed, crouching on the side that was blocking his view of the door. The door creaked open and his mom walked in, Sora standing up with an extremely relieved look upon his face. He sat on the edge of his bed as his mother approached him, sitting down beside her son.

She was wearing a light, faded pink bathrobe and her hair was tied into a messy bun. Her face was set in a caring look, placing her hand on Sora's shoulder and rubbing it warmly.

"Is everything all right, sweetie?" she asked him, her voice filling Sora with a warmth he had not felt in years, just the sound of it driving away most of his negative feelings and bad memories.

"Y...yeah, I'll be fine. I was just having a bad dream..." he told her, his head dropping down to stare at the floor. His shoulders started to shake a bit, as his mother wrapped her arms around him.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Sora could tell from the tone of her voice that she was worried about him. But he just simply shook his head.

"No...I'm fine, for now." He shook away his emotions and quickly got off of his bed and walked over to his wardrobe. "I think I might go out for a walk, see how Kairi and Riku are doing, maybe check in with Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka, too. I haven't seen them in a few years, they must have grown up a bit." He smirked at his mom as he went through his wardrobe, noticing that everything was too small for him. He shrugged and looked at his clothes from the day before. They were covered in dirt, blood, sand, grime, and inky spots. He never really noticed the poor shape his clothes were in, so he raised his right hand and sent a simple cleaning spell over it. A flash of green engulfed the room temporarily, leaving behind a pile of fresh, steaming clothes.

Sora grinned widely at his magic and walked over to put his clothes on. His mom's eyes were wide from seeing her son perform magic right in front of her eyes, but they grew even wider when Sora removed his pajama shirt. All over his chest and back were markings, scars, brands, and patches of discolored skin. His chest was thin, she was able to see a majority of his ribs poking through. A choked sob escaped her throat before she rose and practically tackled Sora, who was extremely confused. He patted his mother on the back, looking worriedly at her.

"Er...what's wrong, mom?" he asked her warily.

"My baby...my boy...your body...why? Why did you do this to yourself?" she asked him, looking into his eyes while hers were overflowing with tears, a stream already flowing down her face.

Immediately, his face set into stone as he pulled away from his mother's tenacious grip and quickly put on his war clothes. He was just about to exit the room before he turned around to address his mother before leaving the house. "There is a lot that you still don't know about the war. I'll tell you when I'm ready." And with that, Sora went down the stairs, walked out of his house, and started to walk to Kairi's place.

He had a feeling that it was going to be a long day.

On his way to Kairi's house, he ran into a girl that looked extremely familiar to him. Her brown her was shining in the sun and her yellow dress made it seem as if her entire body was just radiating. Something about this girl just seemed to fill the teenager with warmth and his mood instantly rose, making Sora feel so much better than he had felt in the past few years. He approached the girl who was walking in front of him, until something nagged at the back of his mind he knew her.

"Selphie?" he called out cautiously, watching as the girl turned around quickly, her dress blowing in the wind gently. Her bright green eyes burrowed into his, making him feel even warmer.

"Sora? Sora!" she screamed, running to Sora with her arms open and actually succeeding in tackling him. They sat their on the ground as they hugged, Sora truly laughing for the first time in a while. Selphie was now sitting in Sora's lap, bouncing up and down out of pure happiness, tears dripping down her face to fall onto Sora's. "Oh, Sora! I've missed you! Where have you been? Were you with Tidus and Wakka also? Were you involved in the war? Tell me!"

Her hyperactivity made Sora laugh even more, he wrapped his arms around Selphie as she was still bombarding him with questions about his abrupt absence a few years ago. "I met up with Tidus and Wakka near the beginning of the war. They joined our forces and were amazing at their jobs. How have you been?"

"Oh, you know, I've been all right. I've just been attending school and training to protect the Islands just in case there was some attack, which wasn't going to be very likely, since the Islands are way out of range from any battles that took place," she told him in one long breath. Taking a massive gulp of air, she started talking again. "The school year is going to be over soon, then I'll be beginning my 12th year next fall! You won't have to attend any school, though. You're already 18, so it's pretty much over for you!" She was smiling brightly at him, until she realized that she was sitting in his lap. With a small grin and a blush, she got herself up and helped Sora up once she was on her feet.

Once both of them were standing, he looked down the street and could see Kairi and Riku running towards them, Kairi's facing bright and smiling while Riku's just had a small grin on his. His splotched inky skin was shining in the low sunlight and it accentuated his infection. Sora turned away from his running best friends to realize that he was still holding onto Selphie's hand, his thumb over hers. He chuckled uncomfortably and freed his hand, Selphie giving the same chuckle. Strangely enough, when Kairi was close enough, she was flashing an evil glare at Selphie, a look that really confused Sora.

"So, guys, how long have you been here?" Kairi asked them, but it was more directed towards Selphie, her eyes clouded over with something unfamiliar.

"Oh, we've been here for a good minute. Just got myself out of Sora's lap," she replied, smirking smugly at Kairi, whose face was starting to turn red.

Sora did not know what was going on, but Riku definitely did, pulling Kairi's hand and whispering to her that they needed to talk. As they moved away from Selphie and Sora, something started to churn inside of Sora, something familiar and terrifying. A freezing breeze was upon him and before he could do anything, 6 shadows rose from the ground. His eyes grew large, but then set into a determined stare, and before they could even move, he had summoned his Kingdom Key and sliced cleanly through 4 of the minor Heartless, the last two slipping back into the ground and disappearing. He still stood in the ready as Kairi and Riku ran back to them, both having their respective Keyblades in hand.

"What was that all about? Did you two just get attacked by Heartless?" Riku asked Sora seriously, the younger brunette nodding stiffly. "This is strange, I thought that we locked the Keyhole, but I guess we have to relock it after all. But first, we should contact the King and tell him about this, no matter how small an attack, we report it to him." Both Kairi and Riku agreed and ran a few houses down to drop off Selphie who was shivering and trembling with fear before running all the way back to Riku's house.

Something just was not right.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Here is the next chapter for my few readers. And thanks for the review, Nenu143! It really meant a lot. I hope you all enjoy. Any and all reviews will be welcome, even if it's just to tell me how crappy it is so far.**

Beautiful green bushes were bouncing around in a courtyard as several happy and merry little critters scuttled around the grounds. Such tranquility radiated from this single location, the direct center of the known universe. The guards were all on duty, patrolling the caste with serious faces, giving curt nods to each other, the only form of communication they could express at this moment. Their job was to protect the castle and all of its inhabitants. They did not have to worry about the town in front of the castle, for there were other guards there, and that only made their jobs so much easier. The guards were different animals, all of them walking on two legs and wearing shining silver armor with a sheathed sword on their backs. They would occasionally run into a magic broom, who would silently curse at the guards if they made a mess after they had finished cleaning. But enough about the guards. They are not what is important here. What is important is the person that was sleeping inside of the castle that they were protecting.

Deep in the master's chamber of the castle was an extremely large four poster bed. To one side was a small night stand and the other had the same exact night stand, making most of the room appear symmetrical. There was a huge crimson and golden chest tucked away in one corner that was collecting a fair amount of dust, showing that it had not been tampered with in years. Two small people could be seen sleeping in the bed, both of them cuddling with each other under the thick royal purple comforter. The two were snoring softly until a small ring started up inside of the room. The two rose briefly but fell back asleep, obviously too tired and enjoying their rest too much. As the ringing grew, the male in the bed rose up and walked over to a large door on the opposite side of the room where his main door was. He walked up to it and the doors slid to the side as he entered his private communications room.

The red lights of a siren were reflecting off of the blue metal walls, giving the small guy a headache. King Mickey grumbled as he made his way over to a large screen that was easily twice the size of himself. He pulled up his red boxers and put his gloved hands on the keyboard activating the screen. A robotic and chilling voice spoke out to him from the console.

"_You are receiving a call from Destiny Islands. Do you accept this call?" _she asked monotonously, Mickey nodding his head.

"Yes, yes, bring it on through. The faster I can get this over with, the faster I can get some more sleep..." The last part was more to his self as three familiar figures began to materialize on the screen. Mickey's thought process stopped as he observed the serious and grave looks on all of the Keyblade Wielders' faces. "What's going on, guys?" he asked warily, his usual high pitched voice cracking a bit as his worry grew.

"We were just calling to inform you that we were attacked by some Heartless," Sora told the King, his face the most serious of them all. "We were going to head on over to the Keyhole to reseal it, but we thought that it would be wise of us to tell you beforehand. We will be calling you back shortly after we check on the Keyhole."

Mickey nodded silently before he started speaking again. "That's a great idea, Sora. If anything else comes up before the three of you can reach the Keyhole, just send me another call. I'll have Donald, Goofy, and myself there in a jiffy!" This last word he ended while punching his fist out and Sora and Riku cracked smiles at their tiny King.

"Will do, your majesty." Sora, Kairi, and Riku all said this at the same, bowing before ending the call. Mickey sighed because he knew that it was going to be that time again.

Leaving his communications room, he walked over to his small wardrobe and took out his usual red clothes. He also pulled out a communicator and attached it to his overly round, black ear. He walked back over to the bed and smiled at the peaceful of image of his sleeping wife. He gently rocked her until her eyes opened and she yawned cutely in his direction. Mickey planted a kiss on her forehead, Minnie knowing exactly what that meant. Without getting up or shedding any tears, she simply smiled at her husband and beckoned him to get a move on. He had work to do.

* * *

On his way to the Audience Chamber he had to walk through the Great Hall. This place held the images of the past kings of Disney Castle, all of them being renowned Keyblade Masters, and one of them even fighting alongside Mickey's Master, Master Yen Sid. The first one Mickey came across was an animal with a wide smile. All that could be seen of him in the portrait was from his shoulders and up. His face was a simple circle with two oval black eyes and an oval nose. His most dominant feature were his rather large ears, both of them on top of his but facing away from him at an angle. It was Oswald, the Rabbit. He established the council of elders during the Second Great War, which was still a mystery to Mickey himself. The council consisted of about 4 rulers from each sector of the Universe, all of them gathering to discuss the regulations of their Worlds and balance that they had all created and how to maintain such a perfect balance. He was truly a marvelous king, but not as marvelous as the first king of Disney Castle.

The portrait next to the massive doors of the Audience Chamber held an actual man in it. His peach skin shimmering out of the picture, his black hair slicked back, and his eyes shining with a warmth that held that of a father. His mustache glistening and his smile bright and wide. He was a white button up shirt with vertical blue strips on it and had on a cardigan over that. This man, this king, was none other than King Walt Disney, the creator and founder of the World where everyone lives. He created it as a safe haven after Darkness started to spread and he was on the front lines of the battle, leading those fighting for the Light to victory. And somewhere along his journey back home, he came across a powerful Light that filled him with happiness and power, and when he looked down at his hand, he was holding onto a giant Key, puzzled he dropped the Key and it vanished. But the moment he thought of it again, the Key returned to his hand. He was one of the first well-known Keyblade Wielders and he was as the strongest, until Xehanort came along, but that is a different story.

Mickey remembered the only time he met King Disney and that was when he was a child and shortly after, Walt passed, leaving the Worlds to grieve. A lot of warm feelings passed through the doors into the Audience Chamber. There were only three people inside and the third member of their party surprised Mickey since he had not seen the pup since before the war started. Goofy was laughing at a story that he told to his son, Max, and his best friend, Donald. As Mickey approached, all three of them stopped laughing and stood as straight as a board.

"It's all right, you three," Mickey addressed them kindly with a wave of his hand. "We're all friends here, so there is no need for all of this seriousness." Goofy, Max, and Donald all looked at each other and chuckled at their King, all of their stress and worries ebbing away.

Mickey walked over to his throne and plopped down into it, enjoying the way the soft cushion supported him. He cleared his throat and all three of the people standing in front of him shifted their attention back to their King, but each standing in their normal stance. Mickey looked all three of them eyes before he started. "As all three of you know, I have received a call from Sora, Kairi, and Riku just a moment ago. I had a sound feeling that this would happen after we defeated Xehanort, but I have no idea why." Mickey paused briefly to ponder. "It might be that he wasn't the true controller of the Heartless or that he was a partner in the grand scheme of things. I don't know, and only time will tell us. As for now, I need all three of you to prepare to depart for Destiny Islands. The kids there said that they were going to go check up on the state of the world's Keyhole, but I feel that it is safe for the four of us to go. We can patrol the Islands in small groups as to protect the inhabitants. Are you all ready to leave?" Mickey finished his small speech suddenly and seriously.

"Well, gawrsh, Mick. We've only been home for a day. I was hoping to get some sleep, y'know?" Goofy replied to the King honestly. The King nodded and stood up from his throne, walking over to three standing before him. He held out his gloved hand and told them to put their hands on top of his.

"Welp, fellas. Looks like we're back in the groove of things." A heartbeat later, a golden light engulfed them all and when the light faded the four of them were gone, a black scorch mark being left behind.

A magic broom passing by looked into the Audience Chamber and practically fainted, seeing the damage done to the King's floor. He scuttled in, dropping a bucket full of water beside the mark as he grumbled silently to himself.

* * *

Sora, Kairi, and Riku were all racing towards the Heart of their World, to seal the Keyhole again. Kairi was standing on top of a silver board that had trace amounts of pink on the sides and she gripped the Destiny's Embrace tightly, her hair flapping in the wind as she raced across and above the houses that were on the main island. Her board was flying steadily, a technique she learned from Sora a year or so back. Riku was driving a glider that was reminiscent to the exact same one that he and Sora used to fight Xemnas. It was still silver and purple, but instead of the Nobody symbol there was the symbol of the King: three circles forming the shape of the King's head. His Way to the Dawn was affixed to his back as zoomed next to Kairi. Sora was simply flying, no vehicle aiding him in the slightest. He held on to the Kingdom Key with white knuckles, devising a plan as the wind pushed his hair back.

A moment later the three of them arrived at the beach, the vehicles propelling Riku and Kairi vanishing in a storm of gold and silver sparkles. They all immediately took of at a full sprint to the Secret Place. Each of them had to take a moment to crawl through the hole to the cave, Riku taking the longest since he was the tallest and the largest of the group. Sora was the first one inside, spotting the wall drawing he made when he was a boy. He turned his face away furiously and walked up to the massive wooden door at the end of the cave. Kairi noticed the look on Sora's face and turned away from him, keeping her head down and still following him. Sora first knocked on the door, and when nothing happened, he pulled forth his Kingdom Key, pointing the tip of the key to the center of the door.

The three of them all waited for the beam of Light to connect with the door, but no such Light came forth. Sora looked at his Keyblade strangely before he let it vanish, punching the wooden door with his fists engulfed in a gray light. There was no physical damage done to the door, but the entire cave shook from the impact. He shook his head and left the cave.

"We should call Mickey and tell him that something is up," Sora said aloud as both Riku and Kairi exited the small opening. "Something is not right. I can feel something stirring somewhere. Something foul..."

Riku and Kairi both looked at each other, sharing worried looks. They had learned to trust Sora's sense of judgment over the years. When he said something bad was going to happen, then you should expect the worst thing to happen. The both walked up to Sora to place their hands on his shoulder, but he jerked away from them both, jumping into the air, flying away at a speed that amazed them. Riku just shook his head and Kairi let out a strangled sob, knowing exactly how Sora was during all of his moods. She was about to leave for Sora but Riku reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Let him have some time to himself, Kairi. You know how he gets. He'll be-"

Riku was cut off as massive explosion which was felt more than heard rocked the main island. He stared with wide eyes as large plume of thick, black smoke started to rise into the air. He looked up higher to see Sora glowing, zooming to where the explosion had no struck. In an instant, he was now wearing his armor and Kairi followed suite, the two of them racing to their island to see what was causing all of the commotion. Fear struck Riku, and he had not felt fear in a long time.

* * *

Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Max all appeared on the island the same time that the explosion started to rock everything, sending tremors everywhere and causing houses to crumble. In a heartbeat the four of them were ready for whatever anything could throw at them. From the skies the could see Sora closing in on the center of the explosion and before they knew it, Riku and Kairi were standing next to them. Mickey was just about to ask them what was going on, until another tremor struck, people's screams filling the air and putting a feeling of dread and despair into the King's heart.

"You four," Mickey started, pointing to Donald, Goofy, Max, and Kairi. "You help everyone here escape to some place safe. Riku and I will head over to the explosion and see what exactly is going." His tone was extremely serious and all of them obliged, running off in different directions.

Mickey held out his hand to Riku who took it without a second thought, the two of them glowing as bright as the sun before disappearing.

Sora fell to the ground standing on both of his feet. He held on to the Kingdom Key in his right hand as he looked ahead of him. In what looked like a crater that was about a quarter of a mile wide and the same depth, a person wearing an all black, inky skin suit stood in a confident manner. The suit caused a glare from the sun, but Sora only ignored that. The person was a woman, the young Keyblade Master only knowing this from the curves that were accentuated by the suit. Her face was uncovered except for a pair black sunglasses and black hair that partially covered her face. She smiled at Sora, revealing razor sharp silver teeth. She moved her body around to get into a fighting stance and Sora was paying attention to her before he began to realize something. The explosion that came from this woman was in the vicinity of his house. Looking around at all of the destruction tore his heart apart as he released a roar to the heaven's, the Kingdom Key disappearing and the Ultima Weapon appearing, glistening in the sun light. The woman was not intimidated by this in the slightest. She only smiled at him.

"Me likey," she muttered, her voice dripping with poison. "Show me what you got, runt."

Sora started to run over to the woman, keeping his face still and his voice quiet, but he was then stopped by the woman's fist, which was digging into his stomach. Sora backflipped away from her and started to rub his now aching abdomen. He knew that she only punched him once, but it felt as if she punched 700 times in that instant. His eyes then bulged as he started retch onto the charred ground, the woman laughing daintily at his actions, before her face became serious and she twisted out of the way as two Keyblades appeared out of thin air, the Way to the Dawn and the Kingdom Key D crossing each other. The woman's smile returned again as her fighting stance loosened up.

"Today just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" she started and leaped for the two new fighters, her speed surprising them, the two of them raising their Keyblades quickly for a sloppy block.

But her speed and accuracy did not falter at all. She just kept delivering hit after hit, until she randomly stopped, a confused expression crossing over her face.

"Oh! I know you! You're Riku!" she screamed pointing to the silver haired teenager. "You're the one the boss wants me to help out! Wow, I'm such an idiot!" She flashed away appeared in front of Riku

His guard down from her outburst, she struck him on the chest seven times in a second. As soon as she removed her hand after the seventh tap, Riku dropped to his knees and started wailing, tears streaming down his face as he was clawing at his skin. But strangely, blood was not pouring out of him, but several wispy blobs of ink. The woman laughed darkly before she jumped into the air and simply vanished without any trace of Light to mark her exit. Sora stood stock still as he was observing the place where the woman disappeared, but his observations were only short lasting when he turned around to see Kairi sobbing over Riku's shaking body, Light flowing from hands into Riku's chest, the teenager still screaming.

Mickey ran over to Sora, calling his name, but he was getting no response. Mickey shoved Sora and the brunette turned to look at Mickey, a look of fear placed into his eyes. "Sora, we need to leave this place quickly," Mickey started, dragging Sora over to where Riku was still squirming but no longer screaming. "I can bring my largest ship here and transport everyone on this World to Disney Castle until we can make some other arrangements as to where they can live. Now' let's go." Mickey let go of Sora's arm as he pressed the communicator attached to his ear and loud buzz could be heard from it before two voices even higher than Mickey's could be heard from the other side. "Hey, Chip, Dale, we need you to transport the _Waltmobile _to Destiny Islands. Have everything clear inside of it and get here as fast you can." He took his finger off of his ear and just a moment afterwards another tremor shook the island.

Sora looked to his left and over in the direction from where the Keyhole resided was a plume if smoke, rising rapidly to the atmosphere. No one there had any idea of what was truly going on, and all they did was sit there and watch, fear gripping them all, leaving them frozen.

* * *

Tremor after tremor washed over the island, all of the surviving inhabitants falling to their feet except for a few, Tidus, Wakka, and an old man wearing a black trench coat, put he was leaning onto a black cane. Everyone was looking shocked as the visible water and another smaller island started to bubble, the two things of matter bouncing up and down before a large amount of steam billowed forth from the water and the island erupted, fire balls, smoke, and magma falling from the sky. There was mass panic for a minute of two, the panic failed to be masked by the Keyblade Wielders and friends. But not before long did a massive ship, the head of the ship that shape of the King's seal, break through the atmosphere, hovering about 150 feet above the ground. A wide ray of yellow light streamed down from the ship and whoever was in its range was zapped up into the ship instantaneously. As the last of the survivors gathered onto the ship, Sora was still looking around for his mother, but she was no where to be found. He fell to his knees and let out a scream as another tremor erupted.

"Sora! Come on! Let's go!" Goofy yelled at his friend, shocking everyone that was not on the _Waltmobile _yet. Sora reluctantly got to his feet and walked into the beam of light, the rest of his friends following shortly.

As he walked up to cockpit he spotted a window where he could see his World as the ship was zooming off. And just before they hit warp speed, he saw his World vanish into rocks and dust, no solid structure left.

As tears streamed down his face and a sob escaped his throat, something dawned on him: He no longer had a home.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dripping water and clinking metal could be heard quietly inside of this room, which was almost in complete darkness. The soft whispers of people were speaking quickly to the point where you could not understand anything that any of them even said. The buzz of some sort of machine could be heard whirring somewhere from the darker shadows until its constant lullaby of a buzz was interrupted by a sharp and quick knock on the door. A metal chair could be heard sliding across the floor and someone's footsteps approached the door from within the room. The person was now standing in front of the door and cleared their throat, preparing to speak.

"Who is it that wishes to enter?" the person whispered out, the sound echoing around the room before a woman's shout from the other side caused him to take a step back.

"Just open the door, already! I don't have any time for any of your nonsense, you pathetic excuse. Open up! Now!" the woman screamed, causing everyone hidden within the darkness of the room to flinch except for a single person.

The person standing at the door pulled out an old wooden and iron key, placing them into their respective locks and causing the door to click as it opened. They had to jump out of the way quickly to avoid being splattered by the giant swinging door. The woman wearing a black, inky skin suit strolled in to the room, her hips swinging. She stopped in the middle of the room and light erupted from everywhere at once. Everyone seated and standing inside of the room were all wearing skin suits resembling the woman's except for an important looking man who sat in the immediate front. The whispering people were identified as humans trapped in cages, screaming wildly when the light flashed on, throwing themselves into the sides of the cages and banging their heads against the steel bars. A few of the people seated and standing smirked at the sight of the pathetic people causing their own minds to deteriorate even more than what was necessary. A few of them even chuckled softly until their leader raised his hand and all of the sound inside of the room was silenced. The woman dropped down to one knee in front of the man and bowed her head.

"Master, the objective has been completed. The Island World you instructed me to destroy has now reached its fate. Darkness didn't consume it as it did in the past, the Keyhole to it is gone," she spoke softly to the man who was staring down at her with a bored expression. "And also, the silver haired boy... I have sped up the degenerative process in him. It might have been stopped by the Princess of Light that was there, but I was able to see that it actually does work."

At the mention of the boy with silver his eyes grew wide, a large smile growing on his bristly bearded face. "That is excellent news! Well done, Felicity! A promotion has your name on it!" he practically shouted at her, not surprising anyone with his obnoxious outburst. They had all grown used to their...eccentric Master's antics.

"But, er..." she was lost for words. "Aren't I already the second in command? I thought that there was no higher than that?" She was confused. She truly was.

"Oh, that is right. Where has my mind been for the past few years..." he said to himself, getting amused grins from those surrounding him. They all knew that their Master was crazy after succumbing to the Darkness and that his mind had gone, but he was still the most powerful being they ever came across. "I know! I'll assign you a new mission! It's just a simple infiltrating one, really, but it should still be a bit of fun! You could lose your life during it!" He started to cackle oddly, showing his followers that he was truly pleased.

"Anything, my lord. It would be an honor," she replied, bowing her head again.

"Oh, enough of that crap! Lift your head and look at me when in my presence!" he commanded, waving his hand at her and she rose to her feet of his accord. "Now, then. This is probably the most important task you will ever receive." He quickly sobered up and so did everyone else in the room. "There is going to be a court trial in three days time at the Universal Rift. There, you will see a man being charged with the most terrible crimes. He was raising a war as the real war was happening, using the deaths of millions and the billions of Heartless to mask his own plans. He is a clever soul. Bring him to me, so that I can devour his essence." The man's eyes started to glow an inhuman shade of red.

Felicity gave him a terse nod, before she decided to turn away to begin preparations to some how infiltrate the Rift, but just as she was about to turn, she realized that the man in front of her was still controlling her body. With a zoom, she flashed over to the man, mere inches away from his face. A feral growl started to emit from him. "If you fail me, if you let this man leave your sight, if he dies, and you return or not, I will find you, and your soul will be mine. I've saved you from Death, I can bring about your own and something much, _much _worse." With that being said, he threw his hand out and she flew across the room, slamming into the wall next to the door.

A large pulsating aura was erupting from the man as he stood up and that was all of the incentive that Felicity needed to leave the room running, wheezing or not. The man sat down and chuckled to himself. "Man, that never gets old," he told himself, wiping a tear away from his eye.

* * *

The _Waltmobile _was in complete and utter chaos. People were running around, crying and screaming. Most of them could not find a relative or a friend, but a few of them were just screaming and crying because they could. The Keyblade Wielders and those strong enough to fight on their own were failing at trying calm everyone down, more screaming being produced as people tried to tell them to be calm. Sora gave frustrated growl and left the deck where all of the citizens of Destiny Islands were to go to cockpit so he could relax a bit.

But as he was walking through a hallway lined with several benches he ran into Selphie, her bright green eyes trained on a window, gazing out into space at all of the twinkling stars. As Sora approached her, he heard her let out a sigh, then she turned to him and smiled warmly at him. "It's really beautiful, isn't it?" she asked him calmly, continuing to look out of the window. Her eyes were lingering over a large cluster of stars and Sora knew immediately which ones those were.

"Yes, they really," he sighed at her. "All though, being up close to those Worlds is a much better spectacle than seeing them from afar." His eyes looked out of the window and a tear rolled from his eyes as he thought about not having a home again, not having have a beach to run around on, not having a mother...

Selphie seemed to have picked this up as she laced her fingers between Sora's, giving him a small smile before she faced the window again and started talking. "You know, I've never truly dealt with a loss before, seeing as during the war, I had a niggling in the back of my mind telling me that everyone was just fine, that they were all going to come back home. That everything was going to turn out how it was supposed to be, all of us laughing again like the good old days," her tone was making Sora feel even worse. He had never heard Selphie speak like this. "But now that it looks like the Islands are all gone, it hurts. A lot worse than I ever expected it to. It's a little too much to bare, but I suppose I'm going to have to move on someday, and the faster the better. There's no point in hanging on to the past for too long!" This last part she shouted, surprising Sora and causing her to giggle a little.

"You know, Selphie," Sora started, "this whole war was...ridiculous. It was draining my life away and I didn't even realize it happening, all of my friends leaving my side, how much I had missed my mother and the rest of my friends back on the Islands. But a few days after the war officially ended and my second day at home, everything was taken from me..." Sora's shoulder started to shake as tears were flowing out of his deep blue eyes. "Why? Why me? Of all people! I've wasted the last 4 years of my life saving the lives of others, and then the one who is most important to me, the one who gave _me _life was taken from! Why? WHY?"

Selphie pulled him into a bone crushing hug, allowing Sora to openly weep into her shoulder, him muttering small incoherent phrases and 'why?' every now and again. All Selphie had to do was stand there and hold him tightly, not let. She had to be his source of comfort at that exact moment and she was not going to let him down. After a long moment of crying, Sora pulled away from Selphie, his cheeks darkening as he realized he openly cried in front of her.

"Er...I'm sorry you had to see me like that. It's a little embarrassing..." he told her, scratching the back of his head. Selphie just nodded at him smiled before a thoughtful look crossed her face.

"Well, it's not that embarrassing. I remember when we were younger and you used to cry whenever Riku beat you in a race. Or whenever Wakka accidentally dropped the Blitzball on your foot. I swear you cried for an entire day. Or how about-"

"Okay! I get it!" he practically shouted, but he could not help a smile coming onto his face as he looked at Selphie's innocent expression. He calmed down and the two of them both looked out of the window again, the same star cluster in the exact same spot.

"So, do you want to tell about some of the stuff that you've seen? I'm really interested!" she gave him a wide smile and Sora could not help but to smile. "It would help a lot, since, you know, I've never been off of the Islands except for being on Traverse Town, and that was fairly normal!"

"Hm, where should I start...I suppose I could just tell you about that star cluster right there," he told her pointing at the window. We wide, eager eyes, Selphie turned to Sora, obviously wanting him to talk about everything. "Well, the one on the right is Malacandra. I went there with a Mr. Elwin Ransom..."

He told her about his exploits on a planet that everyone from another planet thought was dead. But this planet was thriving with life, and the other planet was the one that was ignored and ignorant to everything beautiful around it. He talked about meeting the hnau and how humans were included into the category. Selphie was so enraptured with the story that she did not even realize just how close she had gotten to Sora. Sora seemed to have noticed though, because his lips stopped moving and now he was just staring at the brunette in front of him.

"Hey," he uttered quitely.

"Hi," she replied with a smile. Selphie let her eyes flutter closed as she leaned in towards Sora.

Sora's eyes did the same as he leaned in, attempting to close the distance between himself and Selphie, but Riku and Kairi showed up in the hallway, Kairi giving Selphie a dirty look. "Hey, guys!" she said to them, forcing kindness to seep through her voice. She did not know why she was feeling the way she was. Could she be jealous of Sora and Selphie?

"Hey, Kairi. How's it going?" Selphie replied, genuinely cheery. Her smile was wide as she opened her arms for Kairi and Riku to embrace her, dropping Sora's hand in the process.

He felt a warmness disappear from him as he looked at his now solitary hand. "How are you guys doing?" Sora asked his friends, mostly directing towards Riku who just shrugged.

"Everything is just fine. It was a good thing that Kairi was nearby, otherwise I would probably been in a much worse shape." He was already looking pretty rough, large dark bags underneath his eyes, a dried trickle of black blood out of his nose, and the parts of his body that were inky were now pulsating with fresh vigor and life. "Thanks a lot, Kairi. Really." He gave her a nice and pleasant smile that was not usual for Riku.

"Anytime, I'll always be here for you." She gave him one of her smiles and squeezed his hand lovingly. "So, what are you two doing here?" she asked Sora and Selphie, turning away from Riku and staring at Selphie.

"Well, I'm not sure about what Sora was doing, but I needed to leave the deck because of everyone's yelling, screaming, and crying. I needed some peace in quiet, so I came out here to check out the stars, hoping the view would relax me some," she smiled out of the window then turned her smiling face back to Sora. "Then Sora came along he started to c...tell me about a world he visited that was shining really brightly! It was a great story!" She caught herself, almost telling the others about Sora crying. Sora looked at her gratefully and looked at his two best friends.

"I left the deck myself for a bit of peace...all of that panic isn't too good on my mind. Kept bringing out memories of the war, you know..." he told them quietly, both of his friends immediately understanding. "I was going to go up to the cockpit to see if Chip and Dale needed any help, but I ran across Selphie and started to tell her about Malacandra and Perelandra. It was...nice." After he finished his explanation, he turned his onto Kairi who was looking at him rudely and he turned away, his cheeks turning into a faint red.

"Good thing that you two are relaxed now, though," Riku told them. "But everyone in the deck is pretty much calmed down now, too. A few of the younger ones are still crying into their mother's blouses and dresses and there is still the occasional scream for a friend, but other than that, everything is fine." Riku smiled at them was returned with fresh smiles. "I was able to find both of my parents and Kairi found her father and mother. I swear that I almost cried from glee." The crying part received a soft chuckle from himself, Kairi, and Selphie, but Sora's eyes grew wide.

Not hearing any news about his mother started to tear him apart again. He just turned away from them all and walked further down the hall, all of them there sharing worried glances at Sora's retreating back. Riku looked kind of awkward and started to walk away, Kairi following him. Before the couple turned the corner, Selphie heard the two start a hushed argument about something. All the brunette could do was laugh and giggle at herself.

"Sounds like there is trouble in paradise."

* * *

Sora entered the cockpit and was surprised and marveled at everything that was within the large room. The steering wheel was placed in the middle of the room, instead of near the window inside of the _Highwind_. Everything was covered in a glossy black that did not have a single finger print laid upon it. There were five large, comfortable looking chairs and sitting on one was one of the chipmunks who run the Gummi Garage at Disney Castle. Chip was sitting with a determined look on his face as he just cruised through the darkness of space, not hitting the warp drive, but just enjoying the ride. The chipmunk that was manning the steering wheel and short, smooth hair running over his head and a small black nose that resembled a chocolate chip.

"Hey, Chip!" Sora said to him happily, getting a smile from the chipmunk.

"Hi, Sora!" he called back in a high pitched voice. "How's everything been?"

"Not too great, really," the brunette started, sitting into one of the large chairs. "I just came up here to ease my mind a bit. I don't know what it is, but the whirring and wheezing of machinery in a Gummi Ship always help me relax."

"I don't know why, but same here," a voice slightly deeper than Chip's came from another chair. The chair spun around and sitting on it was another chipmunk, this one having ruffled hair between his ears and big, red nose. He was sitting in front of a screen that was showing the ship's engines, weaponry, shields, and vital signs. "It's good to see you again, pipsqueak," he joked at the teenager, Sora showing a look of confusion.

"Wait a second. YOU'RE the pipsqueak!" Sora shouted, getting high pitched giggles and laughter from the two chipmunks. It gave Sora a smile as he continued talking. "Do you two need any help with anything?"

And as if it were perfect timing, something collided with the ship. Chip gave Dale a firm stare and Dale swung his chair around, looking at the screen. Pondering for a second, he half turned his chair so he could properly speak to Chip yet continue to look at the screen. "We were just hit by something. It wasn't too big, but it did lower our shields from 400% to about 398%. We might be facing some Heartless." A smile of pure pleasure erupted onto his face and Sora and Chip mirrored it.

"Hey, Sora, hop on the cannon," without hesitation, Sora ran over to the cannon's control wheel and plopped down into the seat, aiming the barrel out into space. "We have some Heartless to fry." Chip put the ship on autopilot for a moment and turned his chair to touch a small black button on the control panel. A loud overhead click could be heard before the tiny creature cleared his throat. "This Captain Chip speaking. We are about to be within an enemy cloud, so please, buckle up. This is going to blow your hair back." With that, Chip released the button and the intercom fell silent, and he turned off the autopilot before facing his brother and friend. "Let's do this!"

* * *

Out in the deck, several (if not all) of the survivors were looking around confused at the sound of high pitched voices emitting from everywhere. As soon as the click ended, they were all looking at each other.

"That's funny," a middle aged man with brown hair and gray spots said to no one in particular. "That guy sounded kinda animated. Like a cartoon character or something." He started chuckling to himself until something dawned on him. "Wait a second..." He looked around at some of the "people" who had calmed them all down. Two were dogs, one was a duck, and one was a large mouse. "What the...?" he started slowly, before it dawned on him. They were being helped by animals. With a look around him, the man fainted.

"Hey, Jim, what's wrong?" a portly woman asked him, her face growing with concern before she caught sight of the animals, starting to scream wildly.

Not before long, everyone started to scream again. But Mickey just sighed with frustration. "We just got them calm and now they notice we're a bunch of anthropomorphic beings...great." With a grunt he set about trying to make everyone calm down.

* * *

Chip gripped the steering wheel, preparing to turn. "You two ready?" he asked his brother and friend, excitement bubbling from both of them.

With a sudden twist, he spun the wheel into a barrel roll, barely dodging a laser beam sent out from a small Heartless ship that was bright green. It looked as though the ship itself had eyes glaring at the _Waltmobile, _but that ended quickly as Sora fired a sure shot at the ship, right between its eyes. The ship had a small explosion, white and yellow light spreading out from the center of the shot. A small amount of debris was spreading through the emptiness, approaching the massive black _Waltmobile._ The small shards of metal and gummi block were lightly pelting the front window and sides of the ship, passing behind them, and disappearing into the distance. Sora's face lit up with glee as soon as he hit the ship and about 4 dozen Heartless ships showed up.

"Er...I think we might be needing a little help..." Chip said to the two in the cockpit with him. Another chair dropped down from the ceiling and a moment after, Riku, Donald, Mickey, and Goofy ran in to the room, Riku, Donald, and Mickey jumping into seats of their own as Goofy hopped into the seat with Dale, who was now sitting on Goofy's shoulder. "Riku, Donald, you two will be taking the mini ships. They are gravitationally attached to the main ship, so you don't have to worry about drifting off," Chip addressed them, getting nods in return. "Your Majesty, you will be handling the blaster cannon, opposite to Sora's laser cannon." He received another nod from the King who turned around and sent off a massive condensed ball of energy which exploded upon impact, taking out about four enemy ships. "Let's go!" Chip hit a button next to the steering wheel and two separate clear capsules captured Riku and Donald, pushing them out of the ship and now both of them inside of their own miniature versions of the _Waltmobile_.

* * *

The Heartless army was falling quickly to them, Sora releasing rapid, long laser beams that tore through their ranks and Mickey releasing balls that reacted the same way a bomb would. Both of them cheered when about 14 of the Heartless were still there, giving each other high fives and deciding to allow Riku and Donald to destroy the last few Heartless. The two mini black ships were firing a wave of red, white, blue, and yellow lasers into the Heartless fleet. One of the remaining Heartless ships fired a laser that exploded on the front window of the main ship, red sirens and danger alarms going off. Everyone within the cockpit placed their hands to their ears as the deafening sound continued on until Goofy and Dale could some how raise their shields back up to a level that was deemed survivable. Turning to look back out the window, a single and small Heartless ship was seen, just floating in the space in front of them. The two mini ships fired shots at the ship, but it ducked and dived, avoiding all attacks that should have been fatal and spot on. Everyone in the cockpit was even more surprised when Mickey and Sora were firing alongside the mini ships, yet the tinier Heartless ship outside continued to dodge them gracefully, as if it was not really trying.

A strange thing started to happen after that. The area directly behind the tiny Heartless ship started to become distorted, confusing everyone in the ship even more than they had already been confused. Mickey turned to Chip as the largest Heartless ship any of them had ever seen appeared before them. It was easily four times the size of the _Waltmobile. _

"Chip," the King said quietly. "Chip! Get us out of here! Warp drive us! Now!" Mickey's characteristic voice was now gone and it snapped everyone into action, those on cannons firing at the massive ship, no damage being shown on its large body.

"Dale, Goofy, activate the sonic thrusters in 3...2...1," at one, Dale and Goofy both pushed down on identical deep blue buttons as Chip pushed the steering wheel forward and pulled on a lever that was right next to it, causing the ship to stop for a moment.

But a second later, the ship kicked back into action, lurching forward and causing all of those not seated properly to fall out of their chairs as Riku and Donald both reappeared inside of the ship.

"Gee, that was a close one," Mickey muttered to himself, getting helped to his feet by Sora. "We should check on everyone and make sure that they're all all right. Not any injuries from the warp drive." He looked out of the window and could see several stars streaming past the ship, becoming a part of the darkness.

* * *

Just as everyone except for Chip and Dale were exiting the room, they all heard a tiny scream coming from the deck. All of them ran forward, the door sliding away as they approached, but the sight that greeted them was definitely confusing. There was not a single soul on the deck except for Kairi, Selphie, Max, Tidus, Wakka, and an old fellow who was seated next to them on the floor, all of them looking extremely terrified and huddled together in a corner. The group of Keyblade Wielders and warriors all walked over them cautiously, Kairi being the first to strike out of her trance and run forward, gripping Riku in an embrace as she cried into his chest. Selphie just sat there with blank eyes as Sora walked up to her, and the only one who was willing to talk was Max.

"Maxie, what's going on?" Goofy asked his son with a universe worth of kindness in his voice.

"I...we...they...these..." he did not how to start. "Everyone was taken. Immediately. Right before the ship lurched. A man wearing an inky black suit like that lady...came and he...he ate everyone...he just ate them..." His shoulders fell as he started to cry. "He just laughed and smiled about it as he simply vanished...I'm scared..." He threw himself into his father, hugging him. Goofy was surprised, never getting Max to show too much affection about anything, but here he was, crying.

"Er...Mick, what's going on?" Goofy asked his long time best friend while patting his son on the back. "Do you know anything about this? It seemed as if this is all happening too fast."

"It is, and trust me, Goofy," Mickey started, looking out of a window as the blur of stars started to slow down, "I will find out exactly what is going on. We will put an end to this. You all have my word." He gave all of them his own reassuring look.

"How are we to put an end to all of this?" Riku asked him, rubbing Kairi's back and occasionally running his fingers through her hair. "Fighting Xehanort was hard enough, but these guys can disappear. How are we going to settle this?"

"Well, first off, I'm going to have to check on the other sectors of the universe, to check and see if other Worlds are getting attacked. If they are also, then I would have to hold another meeting of the Order of the Light," Mickey told them all quietly. "I think it would be wise to speak to Master Yen Sid first, so after we arrive at Disney Castle, I want you all to recuperate for a day, then we will set off." Everyone nodded.

From the shadows beside a large crate was a man wearing an inky, black skin suit. He smiled at everything he had just heard and without any sign of him being there, he simply vanished away. Only the old man still sitting on the floor seemed to have noticed something, glaring into the shadow before he got himself to his feet.

**If you haven't, you should definitely check out the Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis. That's where I got the names Malacandra and Perelandra from (the first being Mars and the second Venus). Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. The Heartless battle wasn't that much of a battle, but I'll get better. **

**All reviews are welcome. Help my motivation and inspiration by reviewing!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Please review. Please, please, please. It pleases me and helps me write.**

He was back in that old familiar place again. Except this time there was a large and slightly noticeable change. The massive platform that he was standing upon was glowing, but only barely. The empty space that was surrounding him was a dark gray instead of its usual pitch blackness, so black that not a single form of Light could pierce through its unbreakable veil. The more subtle of changes that the teenager could notice was that there was a change to his platform, a few more pictures having been added and the obvious changes in appearance on his friends' pictures and his own. Riku and Kairi's pictures were now one, both of them smiling happily at each other, the two of them wrapped in a hug. Their eyes showed a deepness that could only be believed if you see it. But the thing that grabbed Sora the most about this new picture was that there was tiny crack on it, just above Kairi's head and hitting the edge of the platform. Not really understanding the crack, he just turned to look at another picture to see how much this place had changed since he last visited it which was just before the war.

A new circle held his best friends and Keyblade Master King Mickey Mouse, all three of them wearing their casual wear. All three of them had their hands placed together in the middle of the circle, a sign that simply meant that they would be sticking together until the very end. He smiled at the picture as he turned his head to look at another picture that was a new installment.

His counterpart and Nobody Roxas was in this picture, just a headshot of him grinning smugly, his deep cerulean eyes being a direct carbon copy of Sora's own. Sora had a small battle with nostalgia as he recalled meeting Roxas for the first time, taking him into his body again, and feeling happy about finally being whole again. He remembered being able to speak with Roxas briefly during the early stages of the war, but he just vanished from his conscious. He called to him one day and he received no respond. Shaking his head to rattle his thoughts, Sora turned to the next picture, one that was extremely familiar to him and he was surprised that it had not been there before.

Smiling warmly with her eyes closed was Sora's mother, Ana. Sora immediately felt tears seize him and he started to cry from the sight of his mother, knowing that he would never be able to see her smile ever again. He turned stiffly to the last picture that was placed on the platform, set farther away from all of the others.

In this one was a man. He had brown hair that held traces of filth, blood, and grime in it and was severely knotted. His face was sharp, his chin jutting out from underneath his bangs, an equally knotted and filthy beard being placed there. His eyes were shining and glowing through his bangs, the skin around his eyes looking as if it were scratched and placed on fire. His mouth was opened in a crooked grin, his pointed teeth shining through. There were random spots of blood on his face that did not seem to be of his own. This picture was giving Sora the creeps, and he had no idea why such a person of that appearance would be placed here, how someone he did not know was able to be on his platform with everyone he truly loved. Sora walked up to the picture and stood on top of it. Putting his right hand at his side, the Kingdom Key materialized there and immediately he swung it down to impact the picture. Bringing it back up, he continued his barrage of blows, striking the picture with sparks flying up. He had no idea why he felt compelled to attack this image, but he was not stopping.

"_You really shouldn't be attacking the picture like that, you know?" _a deep, grating voice sounded from behind Sora, causing him to stop in his tracks. _"Beating it destructively will not help any. You will only succeed in destroying your own Heart." _

Sora spun around to see who was talking to him, being surprised at the sight of the man. The man was standing about seven feet tall, his skin a dull silver and his hair a bright gold. His eyes were solid gold and there seemed to be a brightness that was shining from within them. His face was long and he had a powerful chin. He was wearing a black and red scarf with frayed edges, the material resting gently on his shoulders and both ends of it falling in front of his chest. On his left arm was a black band that stopped just before his elbow and a red sleeve that was a part of an open vest. His right arm was bare except for the sleeve. His chest was thin and covered with scars, a strange symbol planted in the direct center of it. The shorts he wore stopped at his knees and were a blood stained, forest green. His feet were bare and on his back was an empty sword sheath. He smirked at Sora, revealing golden canines.

"Wh...who are you?" Sora stuttered out, suddenly feeling the Kingdom Key vanish from him. He tried to reach out for the weapon's energy, but he did not feel its presence anymore. "What the hell? What did you with the Keyblade?" He was glaring at the man fiercely, who only continued to smile back at Sora.

"_The "Keyblade"? Is that what they are calling them now?" _the man chuckled quietly to himself. _"Is this the Keyblade?" _With a swift movement, he swung his hand back to his sheath where a handle for a weapon was now shown, and he pulled forth the Kingdom Key.

Sora's eyes grew wide as he saw the man holding the Kingdom Key. He once again tried to call it to him, but he was denied again. "Give me back my weapon!" he shouted at the strange man.

"_Your weapon?" _It seemed as if what Sora said to him was hilarious because the man was doubled over with laughter. _"You wielders are_ _all the same. This weapon is not yours and it will never be yours. You pathetic mortals...taking on the tasks of the Guardians." _He grated this all out, a deep and dark shadow settling on to his metallic features.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I am a guardian. There are a few of us and-" Sora started, but was cut off.

"_Just save your breath, kid,"_ the man told Sora. _"It's not worth it to get angry. Especially here. Don't want to destroy this place." _At this he pointed down at the platform and then he was just staring coldly at Sora, his golden eyes burrowing into Sora's and making the teenager feel uncomfortable. _"There is something...strange about you. Something his pushed my soul towards your own, but I have no idea what that is. All of this is still confusing to me. I've only been summoned by three other souls before, not including the Creator's..." _All of this he was saying to himself, stroking his chin thoughtfully, his eyes wandering about the platform. _"This kid doesn't look like he has what it takes, but I have been wrong before...maybe...just maybe..." _His eyes met with Sora's again. _"I'll see you around, kid. Stay alive."_

Sora's eyebrows shot up and he was about to ask him some questions that this strange man's presence arose, but just as he was beginning to ask, the man started to shimmer and dissolved into a golden and silver dust that floated over Sora and fell onto him. Sora was confused to state it simply. The only other time someone had shown up on his Dive to the Heart was his Nobody Roxas, and that was a long time ago. It disturbed that there might be someone or something else living in his mind and Heart. Just thought of it was making Sora shiver, not from cold, but from fear. He then sat on his platform next to the picture of the filthy, brown haired man until he felt his Dive to the Heart start drift from him, a true dream getting ready to commence.

There was a crowded, the people walking by looking extremely happy and cheery, a few merchants and shop owners selling their remedies to those passing by. Everything here was perfect, children laughing and playing in the nice rays of the sun, adults conversing happily, and the adolescents playing some sport game that involved a wooden bat and a white ball with red stitches.

In one of the open shops, a tea shop specifically, sat a man with soft red eyes and long, messy brown hair that joined with his beard which was in the same state as his hair. He was holding a small cup of steaming tea, looking at it joyfully. With a large smile which exposed perfect teeth behind his messy mask, he threw the scolding tea into his mouth and moaned loudly at the flavor, getting stares from others inside of the tea shop. He walked over to the owner of the humble shop and paid him much more than what was owed.

"Sir, I can't accept all of this! It's too much!" he protested to the man, the owner holding onto three large orbs of munny.

_Sora!_

"Nonsense! I insist! I have no need for it anyway! Have a good day, sir! Thank you for the tea!" the bearded man laughed jovially, waving to the owner of the shop as he left.

The owner of the shop could only smile to himself as he placed the munny into his tiny safe. "Looks like I can finally buy Victoria those earrings she's been wanting." He snapped from his moment though as another customer walked in, the owner immediately placing a new pot of tea over a fire.

The messy haired man was walking the streets, taking in the sight of everything that was around him, breathing in the fresh air. He stopped before a little girl, who flashed a smile at him with her two front teeth missing before she skipped and ran to her friends. This widened the man's smile as he continued his walk through the crowded street, but once he reached its end, he turned around. His gentle look was still in place, but behind his eyes was the look of a monster, waiting for the opportune moment to strike at his opponent.

_Sora!_

As the man rose his left hand and pointed it at the middle of the street, a thin, ruby red ray of light speared out from his hand and impacted with the ground. The poor people had no idea what was going to happen next, all of them still enjoying their day and not paying any attention. A moment after the ray touched the soil, a bright flash of light erupted, engulfing everything and everyone, all people and buildings becoming invisible from the light. But just as quickly as the light came it had faded.

Nothing was left. Everyone was gone and all of the buildings were destroyed, not a single trace that anyone had ever been walking on the street or the small village that surrounded it. "People nowadays are so easy to deceive. All you have to do is flash a big smile and they're wrapped around your finger."

The man turned around, but instead of his messy hair, bearded face, and soft red eyes, he had spiky hair, a clean face, and glowing cerulean eyes, a demonic smile plastered onto his face. Sora walked away from the street, setting his sights onto the next village over.

_Sora! Wake up!_

Sora gasped for breath as he was thrown out of his dream, not believing anything that he had just witnessed. His face was pale with fear as he searched frantically around his room until his eyes settled on Riku, his best friend having a clear look of worry upon his face.

"You all right, man? Heard you screaming from the next room over," Riku told him, scratching the back of his head. "Kairi wanted to come and check you out, but she felt that it was inappropriate so here I am. Feeling all right?"

"Y...yeah, I'm good, thanks," Sora replied quietly, pulling his knees up to his chest. "Do you know how long it will take us to get to Disney Castle?"

"I think we have about 3 more hours to go_. _Get some sleep, man. It looks like you need it," Riku said to him with a chuckle, turning around to leave the room.

Sora turned onto his back to stare at his ceiling, trying his hardest to stay awake. He had enough mental activity for the day and he really needed some questions answered. He got out of his bed, slipped on his clothes, and left the room, going to search for the King somewhere on this massive ship.

Upon entering the cockpit, Sora noticed that Dale was asleep in his overly large chair, snoring lightly and Chip was awake in the driver's seat, looking over some papers and files and checking on the warp gauges every second to make sure they were up to date and not faltering. Sora was astounded at how complex and amazing this chipmunk was.

"Hey, Chip, have you seen the King?" Sora asked him quietly, not wanting to disturb Dale in his sleep.

Chip raised his head a moment later and pointed to a metal door that was on his left. "He's in his communications room. I think he's trying to contact some of the other Worlds' leaders to host another meeting of the Order of the Light." Chip went straight back to his reading after telling Sora where Mickey was and Sora didn't waste anytime to enter the door.

Inside of the communications room were three chairs, all with tall backs and glowing a soft white. The walls were a light gray that was reflecting the light of the massive screen at the front of the room. A chair spun around revealing Mickey, staring with angry eyes at Sora. His expression calmed down after realizing it was Sora and he motioned for Sora to join him. Sora sat down in the chair to Mickey's right and looked up at the screen and the person that was looking back.

On the screen was a short and stout man with lightly tanned skin and a large bulbous nose. Underneath his wide nose was a thick black mustache. On his head was a rep cap with an uppercase red M in a circle on the front. His blue eyes were burrowing into Sora's and Sora could not help but feel an immense amount of power coming from this short man, even through the screen.

"Mickey? Who is-a this-a?" the man spoke in accent that Sora had never heard before. "He looks-a familiar, but I can't-a place my finger on it..." He raised a white gloved hand and started to stroke his chin.

"Mario, this here is Sora," Mickey told him with a wide smile. "Remember? We talked about this the last time we had lunch with Sonic and Astro Boy!"

The man on the screen was looking really confused when Mickey mentioned lunch. "But Mickey, the last-a time we had-a lunch was about-a 4 years ago..."

"You can't remember anything important can?"

"Oh! Mama mia! This is the new-a Chosen One? Nice to meet-a you!" Mario practically yelled, smiling brightly at Sora. Sora could feel his cheeks reddening for some reason. He heard a feminine grumble from the background of Mario's screen and Mario turned around to see a blond woman with a thin frame standing in the door way with her hands on her hips. "Sorry, Peach! I'll be-a more quiet!"

"Thank you, sweetie," she replied, smiling sweetly. She walked up to Mario and planted a kiss on his cheek that just showed pure love. Mario's face grew happy as he looked at the woman of his dreams, the love of his life. Peach walked back to their bedroom, the door sliding closed behind her.

"Now, then. Back to the true question," Mario started, his accent disappearing as he got completely serious. "As you know, Mick, our World was out of the way of the Heartless uprising. I believe the closest place to us that was attacked was probably Luigi's Mansion, which is quite a distance away. I'm not even able to Jump that far. But Luigi was able to take care of them all and now he has docked his World onto the Mushroom Kingdom so that we can fight off anything that comes our way together. But there is something strange that has been going on.

"A lot of the citizens here have been disappearing lately, we have approached Bowser and have him imprisoned here and a majority of the disappearances have stopped. I have no idea what is going on with my World, Mickey."

Mickey was staring thoughtfully to the side of his screen. "I have no idea what is going on either, Mario. Every citizen of the Destiny Islands had been either abducted or killed within 24 hours except for a few fighters. That is the strange thing there. Why did they just take those that couldn't put up a fight? It would make more sense to take the more powerful ones and strike at the ones who are completely helpless..."

"Maybe it's to strike fear and doubt into the mind of those that can fight," Sora offered, looking at the King. "Nothing is more successful than making your opponents feel as if there is no hope left when you're fighting against them. That is how we pretty much won the war, after all. We instilled fear into Xehanort and that was his downfall."

"That could be it, Sora," Mickey told the teenager beside him. "Fear has power that could destroy the mind in an instant. I have no doubt in my mind that they are taking all of those who are helpless to place fear into us, but who are they? What is their purpose here?"

"I don't think that we can answer that just yet," Mario spoke up. "You should wait until you contact Yen Sid and I'll contact Toadsworth. They should be able to shed some insight on the situation. You will be seeing me at the meeting of the Order of the Light, Mick. Perhaps I'll get Yoshi to tag along and get Luigi to watch after the World.

"Farewell, my friend, and be safe." Mario ended the connection and the screen was filled with static.

Mickey turned his chair to look at Sora. "So, why did you come looking for me?"

"I have some questions...my Dive to the Heart has changed. I understand all of the changes except for one of them...do you know why I would have a picture of someone I have never met before on my platform?" This seemed to have grabbed Mickey's attention as he smiled at Sora.

"Well, years ago, many years ago, I experienced my first Dive to the Heart. My platform had Oswald, Goofy, Donald, Minnie, another old friend of mine, and someone who I didn't recognize." Mickey looked into Sora's eyes. "It was a picture of Riku. The thing about having an unknown picture on your platform is that you don't know who it is, but you will know that they will have some type of influence over your life. Whether it's positive or negative, that is for you to control." The mouse King started to spin around in his chair like a child. "Is there anything else you wanted to ask?"

"Actually, there is," Sora started, looking down at his feet uncomfortably for some reason. "There was...someone else on my Dive to the Heart. It was a man with silver skin and gold hair. Have you ever experienced anything like this?"

Mickey's eyes grew wide. "There was someone else on your platform? That doesn't even sound possible. That sounds as if there are two souls inhabiting a body. I have never heard of such a thing. Perhaps Master Yen Sid will know about this also. I think I remember seeing some notes in his study about the Dive to the Heart. I'll ask him about it once I see him after I get you all to Disney Castle."

Sora nodded vaguely, standing up to leave the room. Something was causing Sora to become distant from Mickey at that moment. He shook his head and told Mickey goodnight before leaving the communications room.

Inside of the cockpit, he noticed that the blackness of space had disappeared and that Disney Castle was now into sight. Relaxing slightly, Sora stalked back to the living deck to wake up everyone. Hopefully they would be able to relax briefly.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The _Waltmobile _landed on a large silver platform that immediately started to descend upon contact. Most of the people on board the massive Gummi Ship were still feeling down from the events that happened the previous day. All of those people, just simply...gone. It was making them feel uncomfortable, loss of parents and friends and family. It was definitely one of the more terrible feelings that most of them had felt, even after their time during the war.

"Let's just get this over with," Riku said underneath his breath. He was scratching the black, inky spots on his arms and turned to Kairi. "I didn't ever want to be in another war, but they took everyone from our World...our parents...I need to find them..."

Kairi moved into Riku's side and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, I know you do and don't you worry, because we will!" She gazed lovingly into his blue-green eyes. "Trust me."

"I always do trust you, Kairi," Riku replied sweetly, raising a hand to caress her face. Kairi giggled from the contact and Selphie's eyes were glazed over with tears.

"You two are so CUTE!" she cried, literally. "I wish I could have something like you two do! I could never really, though..." Selphie looked away forlornly as her eyes glazed over.

Kairi gestured to Riku. "Er...I'll go...help the others...um...unpack the ship! Yes! The ship!" Riku ran out of the room, giving Kairi and Selphie some privacy. Kairi approached the almost crying girl and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"You all right, Selphie?" Kairi asked her. "What's bothering you?"

Selphie gulped loudly and visibly before she started talking. "When we were younger, I could never get a boyfriend, only because the only guys our age would only look at me as if I was another boy. It was infuriating! I wanted to be looked at as a friend and something more..._much _more.

And you! You were there to increase the competition! You gave all of them a pretty face to try to impress and it worked, especially on Riku and Sora. But now, I think I may have Sora, that I can finally get close to him, but we just keep trying things at the wrong time and moments. I really like Sora, Kairi." Selphie finished with a loud exhale.

Something inside of Kairi was screaming. _**Well, you can't have him! He is not yours!**_ Kairi shook her head, really confused by the heat and feeling inside of her chest. She pushed that away and decided to think on it later before talking to Selphie again. "Then you should...really...go...for him," she forced out of herself. _What the hell is wrong with me?_

"You really think so? I haven't had any experience in this before..." For the first time Kairi could remember, Selphie looked shy.

"Just...act naturally around him. You'll be fine," she gave her a fake smile and Selphie gave Kairi a hug before she skipped away to leave the ship.

A shadow crossed over her face as her Keyblade appeared in her left hand. In a fraction of a second, she hit the wall to her left, destroying it and leaving small sparks of electricity where there was debris. Her Keyblade was twitching and long sparks were running up and down the length of it. Her face was red with fury and her hair was standing up and waving around as if there was a gust blowing through the ship. Her pupils disappeared and she snarled in the direction that Selphie was skipping away, her teeth now being slightly more sharp. _"You will not have him. You never will."_

Kairi got a confused expression on her face when she realized exactly what she was saying. A fearful moan escaped her and she ran to get off of the ship to ask Mickey if she would be able to talk to Master Yen Sid with him.

* * *

Sora was running his bare toes through the lush and beautiful grass in the courtyard of Disney Castle. Even though he had just been here right after the war was over, he was still able to thoroughly enjoy the perfect stature and condition of the grasses. He sighed contentedly as a gentle breeze drifted by and for the first time in what felt like ages, Sora was completely relaxed. He felt as if he was on top of the world and that nothing could bring him down, no amount of negativity would be affecting him today, and he felt great about it. He tilted his head back to allow the breeze to surround and swim around his spiky head and he closed his eyes as the coolness touched his scalp. His nose picked up a soft aroma of which smelled like cake. Vanilla. Strawberry. He opened his eyes and Selphie was standing before him. He sniffed the air again and realized that it was Selphie was smelled of vanilla and strawberry cake.

"Hey, Selphie," he said, approaching her so he could smell her better. He was directly before her when he inhaled softly so she would not pick it up.

"Hey, Sora," she replied, shining him a large smile. "I saw you standing all alone over here and thought that you would like some company." She took his hand in hers, her smile still plastered onto her face.

Sora could not help but to smile back at the innocent beauty radiating off of this young woman that was holding his hand. There was definitely a different feeling from Selphie than Kairi that Sora was receiving. He could not place his finger on it, but he would figure it out soon enough.

"So, how are you feeling?" he asked her, sitting down on the grass and pulling her down with him. She giggled when she fell to the ground, but regained her composure as she was about to start talking. "You feeling all right?" Sora asked her this with genuine concern.

"Yeah, I'll be all right. I didn't really have any parents to lose back at home and the few friends I had are still here," she told him while looking off into the sky. "Are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine. Great even," he answered without hesitation. "Now, to get our minds off of bad stuff, have you ever been to this world?" He was smiling at her with childish delight.

"No, I've only been to Traverse Town, Radiant Garden briefly, and Destiny Islands... This place does look amazing, though!" she finished excitedly.

"You don't even know the half of it! I should give you a tour!"

With that being said, Sora jumped still holding onto Selphie's hand and quickly dashed off, causing her to scream and laugh with excitement at getting pulled around, butterflies flying and flapping inside of her stomach. But as soon as they turned the corner, Kairi was standing there.

* * *

"Where is he?" a girl grumbled to herself. "I swear that I just saw him here..." She was getting frustrated even though she had only been searching for a few minutes.

She needed to talk to this person about all of the Darkness she was feeling, or what she was assuming to be Darkness. She was not suppose to be feeling any of this! She is a Princess of Heart, a being with a Heart that was full of pure Light, no Darkness should exist inside of her! She had to find Mickey quickly!

Just as Kairi was about to turn the corner, she saw Sora and stopped, but he was not paying attention apparently. He kept running with his eyes closed and a look of joy etched onto his face and he slammed straight into Kairi. For a moment she felt angry, but something deep down inside of her was awakened and the same went for Sora. Light and Darkness engulfed Sora, Kairi, and Selphie, and a moment later the three of them were all unconscious.

* * *

A massive platform was standing alone in the middle of the Darkness, its white surface shining brightly as an inner Light was glowing from within. Very slowly, a few pictures started to show up on the platform: the first was of Sora, the second of Kairi, the third of Riku, and the fourth of Selphie. The last three to show up were not too much of a surprise, except for the last one. The first was of Roxas, the second was of Naminé, and the third was of Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness.

People started to appear on the platform, Sora and Kairi still being in the same position right before the got here, Sora laying on top of her. Selphie was standing behind the two trying hard not to laugh. Riku was transported here still holding a box which he appeared to be struggling with.

"The hell...? How did I get here?" he asked angrily, dropping the box. His eyes fell onto the bodies of Sora and Kairi and he walked over to give the two of them a hand. "You two all right? Or do you know what is going on here?"

"Not at all. I just ran into Kairi and this Light and Darkness covered us and brought us here." Sora scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly.

"This is confusing...I haven't really been on a platform with other people since near the beginning of the war," Kairi spoke airily, placing her hand to her chin.

"It's because we brought you here."

The four friends turned around to see three figures standing before them: Roxas, Naminé, and Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness.

Sora and Kairi were excited to see their Nobody counterparts, running up to them immediately and hugging them and jumping around, but Riku just walked up to Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness tersely and extended his hand to shake the menacing man's hand. Ansem sneered back at him and returned the gesture of respect.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked Roxas and Naminé excitedly. "It's been awhile since I've heard from you!" He punched Roxas on the shoulder.

"Yeah, It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Ansem responded. "I'm not really up for talking at the moment, but I'm pretty sure those two will definitely fill you in." Ansem sat down on the platform.

Naminé was glaring at Selphie who, in turn, had a terrified expression on her face. "It really has been awhile...but Roxas and I are here because of you Riku." She pointed to Sora, Kairi, Selphie, and Riku. All of them were about to open their mouths to speak, but Roxas held up a hand to silence them. He looked back at Naminé, smiled, and nodded at her, signaling that she could continue to explain. "Near the beginning of the war, after Sora and Riku defeated Xemnas, Roxas and I were still around to talk to you two. But something triggered us to be locked inside of your Hearts, only able to communicate with each other and not you two."

"You see, " Roxas started, "we were only able to talk to you guys when everything was open, when Love and Light was still able to flow in. But when Kairi fell for Riku, well, Sora's Heart closed." Everyone turned to Sora who had a shadow over his face. "Sora, man, but it's the truth. Kairi's Heart was still open completely until she noticed that you didn't really care anymore. But all of that is unimportant right now.

We may have a way that we could come back."

Everyone's eyes grew wide and they all flicked over to Ansem's tanned figure. He held his hands up defensively. "Relax, children. I wouldn't appreciate being a mortal again. I prefer the cold and Darkness of Riku's Heart." He smirked at them and chills went down everyone's spine.

"Yeah...he's always like that..." Roxas muttered to everyone else.

"Wait a second..." Riku turned on Ansem. "You were in contact with Roxas and Naminé this entire time?" At this Ansem nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked. Besides, I had more important things on my mind than two adolescents crying because they couldn't speak to their Somebodies." Ansem stood up. "I'm leaving. Farewell." He vanished into an explosion of Darkness.

Riku roared at the spot where Ansem was standing. "I hate that bastard."

There was an awkward silence until Sora spoke up. "So, how do we get you two to come back? Is it something difficult?"

"Well, technically," Naminé replied. Her skin was growing pale if if was even possible and Roxas began to sweat. "Well, through several hundred conversations with Ansem, he agreed to help us out. He spoke to us of some dark thing that is possibly the most evil creation in all of existence that I know of. It's...well...you just have to talk to Master Yen Sid about it." She walked up to Sora and whispered into his ear. Sora looked confused as she walked away. "He'll explain everything to you and he may be able to find another process to go through. I really hope what I told you is the last option." With that being said, Naminé vanished,

Roxas shook his head. "I'll see you two later." He too vanished and left Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Selphie all standing around by themselves.

Just before the three of them were thrown back into consciousness, Sora muttered to himself, "I wonder what a Horcrux is..."

* * *

"Mickey!" Minnie shouted happily, running into the arms of her husband. The two warmly embraced each other as Mickey's shoulders began to tremble. "What's the matter, sweetie?"

Mickey was silently crying, burying his face into his wife's shoulder. "It was terrible," he choked out. "We were there...we...I was supposed to protect them...and now everyone's gone...I'm useless..."

"Mickey Mouse!" Minnie shouted at her husband sternly, causing him to flinch. "Get a grip on yourself!" She slapped him hard across the face and smiled sweetly at him. "Everything will be just fine, Mickey. You have nothing to worry about."

Mickey looked back at his wife with large eyes and smiled at her, love pouring forth from him. "I love you so much." He leaned in and kissed her passionately, Minnie returning the kiss. He pulled away even though his body gestures showed that he did not really want to. "I have to leave to speak to Master Yen Sid. I'll be back as soon as I can be." He smiled sweetly at her. He turned away and left the Master Bedroom immediately.

As he was walking down the hallway, he was hearing someone call his name.

"Mickey! Mickey!"

"Your Majesty!"

He turned around to see Sora, Kairi, and Riku running towards him. None of them were breathing hard, but he took a guess that they were following him or looking for him for awhile. "We need to come with you. We have to speak with Master Yen Sid about something," Kairi told him.

"What is i-" Mickey started but was cut off.

"It's important and there isn't enough time to explain right now. Just know that it will help," Riku shouted, surprising the tiny king.

Mickey just nodded and asked them a question. "You can all come along, but where is Selphie?"

"She's going over some training with Tidus and Wakka. Last I saw she was handling her own pretty well and that old guy was just sitting there watching them." Sora explained, scratching the back of his head. "She said she wants to be able to actually do something the next there is an attack."

Mickey nodded again and turned away from the three of them. "All right, let's get going. The sooner we get back, the better I'll feel."

Mickey took a few steps and stopped suddenly before he started to laugh. "I'm really thick-headed! I was going to fly us there!" Still laughing, he walked up to three teenagers and grasped them before they all disappeared in a flash of golden light, a large scorch mark left on the floor. Almost immediately did a magic broom walked up and sighed as it started to clean the mark.

* * *

The four of them showed up outside of a twisted, crooked, surreal tower that was a pleasant golden-brown. Each part of the tower that could be considered a top was a blue, cone-shaped roof with moons and star decorating them in no specific order. Mickey wasted no time in barging through the front door of the tower to return to see his Master, to ask him of guidance. Sora and his two best friends did not hesitate and were immediately trailing after the King.

They reached Master Yen Sid's study faster than any of them could ever remember. They all barged in to his large room to see Master Yen Sid sitting behind his large rectangular brown desk. On the side of the desk that the four just entered on were five high-back chairs. They four who entered all found it a little odd that there were five and not four, so their imaginations started wonder as to who could be the fifth person of their party. Just as they were about to ask the elderly man who the last member of their party was going to be, the chair turned around, revealing someone who was only familiar to two of them. A short man wearing blue overalls with a red long sleeved shirt underneath and a red cap on top of his head. His nose was bulbous and a thick mustache sat underneath it.

"It's-a me, Mario!" the short man announced happily, gesturing for all of them to come on over.

"Mario, what are you doing here? I thought you were still needing to look over your World!" Mickey exclaimed, embracing his old friend.

"I-a was going-a to stay behind-a, but Luigi insisted!" Mario smiled at Mickey before sobering up. "I just felt that it would be much more reasonable for myself to visit Yen Sid to talk about our problems. We're finished already, but he told me to stay to listen to your meeting."

Mickey nodded at Mario and turned to his Master, bowing to him. Yen Sid just waved his to signal Mickey to stop. "You see, Master, we..."

"I am already aware of your predicament, Mickey," Yen Sid interrupted him in a deep voice. "I have already contacted a majority of the Worlds that are associated with the Order of the Light. We have scheduled a meeting in three days time. You must be there, Mickey, for obvious reasons. You three may tag along with him." Yen Sid directed this to Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

"And as for you two, Sora and Kairi," Yen Sid started again. "There is a way to bring back Roxas and Naminé. The creation of a Horcrux is not needed and it is not necessary to be known to any of you at this moment. That is a branch of magic that I am not comfortable with discussing.

"The procedure that can bring back Roxas and Naminé will take a lot of energy, love, life, Light, and Darkness. It will most definitely be the most excruciating thing you two will ever feel. The two of them will be needed in the near future. I can feel what is brewing and what is already here.

"Now, everyone must wait somewhere else. I believe Princess Kairi would like to have a word with me about a little problem."

* * *

A woman with light brown hair was standing outside of the front gates of the Universal Rift. She was staring intently at the entrance of the massive joint courthouse and jailhouse. She knew her mission, but it had to wait. It could wait until the trial actually started, since her disguise was so beautifully crafted and constructed that know one would be able to tell that she was truly Felicity Carol, it's not as if many people would even know her true face. She had only appeared on a few Worlds to steal tokens for her lord, and those that were the superiors and workers of this massive building most likely had never seen her.

She looked down at her wrist where a dainty and thin wrist-watch was resting. "Hm, I have sometime to kill before everyone starts to review the trial papers again. Maybe I can get a close up on the subject."

With a wicked grin, she vanished into nothingness, leaving no sign that she was previously standing there.

_Meh, here's your chapter. Took awhile to get out, but only because I had to graduate, spend time with my family and all of that other drivel. I should be able to update much faster now, so review!_

_Reviews help people write faster!_


	7. Chapter 7

_It's been awhile, but here you go. I seem to have actually gotten worse with writing, but that's okay. It's fun._

_Review. It helps!_

Chapter 7

It was oddly quiet. Even though Sora, Kairi, Riku, Selphie, Goofy, Donald, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Max, Tidus, and Wakka were all eating together in the dining room, not a single noise was coming from any of them as they were all chewing quietly. It was hard to believe that even Donald was not eating in his typical ravenous manner, but as if he was a truly civilized duck.

Awkward glances were being thrown around the large rectangular table, those catching the attention of others just simply shifted their eyes away from each other. It was Sora who made the first noise, though it was not a noise of conversation, just a sign of himself leaving the table to escape from the awkward atmosphere. He dropped his spoon on to the table after finishing his soup and slid his chair out, leaving it there and leaving the dining room to grab some fresh air.

Just walking, he was not paying any attention to his surroundings and he surprised himself when he found out that he was now standing on of a top of a large and grassy plateau. He sighed as he sat down in the middle of the short grass, his body instantly relaxing as a soft breeze blew over him. He looked up into the dark purple sky and stared with awe at the number of bright and winking stars there, each one of them breathing with light from light-years away. It was beautiful, and Sora truly realized this as a single tear rolled out of his left eye.

This day was entirely hectic, since their visit with Master Yen Sid was the previous day. He informed them that they would be having a meeting with the Order of the Light, and that made Sora nervous. Only he and Mickey are supposed to be going from his group of friends and the members of this organization are supposed to be the most powerful in the universe. Sora called himself strong, but there is no way he could be on the same level as the rest of them.

And on top of that, Sora was also invited by King Mickey to attend some important trial at some place called the Universal Rift. The trial starts at around midday the next day, so Sora should be getting some sleep, but he just could not. His mind was racing far too much for him to do anything properly. He was so engrossed with his thoughts that he failed to realize an approaching Selphie who was patting her stomach as she flopped down beside him.

"Hey, Sora, what's wrong?" she asked him kindly, her eyes twinkling from the starlight.

"Too much," he grumbled into his hands. "I have way too much on my plate right now. Some meeting, a ritual to bring our Nobodies back, a cataclysmic war, death, death, death..." He trailed off and his shoulder's started to shake. He was sobbing and Selphie was immediately pressed against him, trying her best to comfort this distressed teenager.

"Everything is going to be all right! Just trust me!" Selphie shouted playfully at Sora. "We both have nothing to worry about." She lifted Sora's head gently and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. And even though his cheek was soaked with tears, she did not complain. In fact, she was blushing. "I'll see you back at the castle, Sora. Probably before you leave tomorrow morning. Don't stay out too late. Goodnight!"

She quickly stood up and in a flash she was gone. Sora looked in at where she was standing and looked in the direction of the castle. He could only see the retreating figure of her back.

Sora smiled as his heart was beginning to feel extremely light. He hopped to his feet, jumped into the air, and flew to Disney Castle. He had a long day ahead of him and he needed his rest. He felt that the trail would consume all of his energy if not bore him to death. Needless to say, the next day for Sora and King Mickey was going to be something.

The day was young and the sky was very light. Light beams of oranges and violets were peaking through the fluffy, gray clouds, the clouds drifting lazily across the sky, always keeping the sun of this world covered. It gave this world a somber feeling, as if there was not a single shred of hope left, yet you knew that no matter what happened here, it would be the correct decision.

The Universal Rift: the most powerful, just, and intimidating world in the center sector of worlds. Criminals who have caused mass devastation, mass murders, possession, or anything really that was deemed morally wrong was sent here to have a trail, where they were usually guilty. Only one person in the history of the Universal Rift was not guilty and, strangely, the person's files were lost after the last judge resigned, so no one knows the person's name.

Sora and Mickey were standing in front of a large set of gates. Even though the gates looked to be made of metal, they were perfectly see-through, invisible to someone who did not have a cautious eye. Mickey was admiring the detail work of the metal bars as a familiar man was walking through the gates. He immediately caught Sora's attention as Sora yelled his name.

"Hey, Leon!" Sora exclaimed, happy to see his old, brooding friend again.

"Sora! How have you been? Spend much time at home?" Leon asked him, giving Sora an uncharacteristic smile.

The mention of home sent a sharp pain into Sora's Heart, but he masked it and forgot about it immediately. "Just a little bit, not much. Some strange things have been going on..."

"Most definitely. At least 150 of my townspeople have been abducted. We have had to increase the security in order to detect any malevolence, but there are no captures. The Heartless have not been to the Garden since the end of the war, so I have no idea what could be causing all of this." He lowered his voice, "To be honest, Sora, I'm terrified."

"I think we all are, Squall," Mickey's voice chirped up from behind Sora. "But don't worry about a thing just yet! The Order of the Light are supposed to be having a meeting tomorrow afternoon. We will send you the details so you'll know exactly where we are supposed to meet." The last part he whispered so that only he and Sora could hear. "So, have you seen Cloud lately?"

"Actually, yes. He was getting a little worried himself. He was talking about some angel not coming around enough. It sounds to me like Tifa might have a run for her money." Leon chuckled lightly, but Sora could only gulp in fear.

He knew the "angel" that Cloud was referring to, and the power that the being wielded. He has never faced anything more frightening before in his life. But his thoughts were cut short as the media started to arrive along with a few other rulers of worlds.

"I think it would be best if we head inside to find out seats." Without waiting for a response, Mickey started walking ahead of Sora at a quick pace.

Sora and Leon entered the massive entrance hall to the courthouse together and immediately to their right was what could be to hallway that led to the prison. Just looking down the hallway was giving Sora chills.

"This prison is filled to the brim with Darkness. If you stay in too long, then the Darkness will consume you also," Leon told Sora, just striking up some conversation.

"How is it able to retain Darkness like that, though? I thought only Hearts could do something like that." The two were still talking about it as the entered the courtroom.

"I believe Master Walt was the one who originally created the design for the prison. He was able to keep his Heart void of any Darkness, but no one knows how. Walt was such a strange man," Leon answered Sora, both of them looking for their seats. "Well, it looks like I'm seated over there with Merlin. We'll probably talk to you and King Mickey after the trial. Have you ever been to a trial?"

"No, they wouldn't allow me to watch Xehanort's, and the is the only trial I've ever known about that was excessively popular. This will be a first," Sora grumbled under his breath.

"It definitely will be. This man that is being prosecuted is apparently just as bad as Xehanort. He was just less known because he was using the War to cover up his atrocities. He's mad." Leon walked away from Sora and squeezed his way into his seat, plopping down next to Merlin he was giving him a wide smile.

Sora was looking around for Mickey and found him sitting next to someone just as short as the king was. A blue animal with spiky hair was slouching in his seat. Sora had never seen an animal like that, being limited to what was on the Islands and a few friends he met along the way. Deciding it would be best to meet this animal now, Sora squeezed his way through the aisle to reach his seat, sitting down next to who he guessed was an elf, yet taller than those he met previously. This elf had blue, analytical eyes and he seemed to be taking in everything in the courtroom with purpose. He looked over to his companion to his right he was an absolutely gorgeous she-elf who possessed blue eyes equal to the elf and straight blond hair, two parts of her bangs dressed in ribbons. She smiled at the elf, seeming as if she picked up what he was saying from just looking into his eyes. The elf smiled back at her. She locked eyes with Sora and Sora caught himself staring at her.

"Hello! My name is Zelda!" she told Sora and gave him a smile that has never filled him with so much energy. "We're the ambassadors from Hyrule." She continued to smile at Sora as the elf beside her was staring at Sora.

"My name is Sora. I'm the ambassador of the Destiny Islands and one of the ambassadors of Disney Castle." He held out his to the both of them, both of them shaking his hand.

"You're from Disney Castle? I've only recently heard about it, but from what I've learned it seems like a powerful place.

This is Link, the strongest guy in the universe!" She pointed to the elf next to her who was now a brilliant shade of crimson.

Link placed his head in his hands to regain his composure, then looked up to Sora again and nodded at him, locking eyes with him. "It's nice to meet you, too, Link." Sora was confused that he said that, considering Link did not utter a single word.

"It's just Link. You learn to get used to it. It's one of his many special qualities." She gave Link another one of her smiles and he began to blush again.

Sora was getting tapped on his shoulder so he turned to look in the direction the tap was coming from. Mickey was smiling brightly at Sora as he preparing to speak. "Sora, this is an old friend of mine. This is Sonic, the Hedgehog."

"Hey. How's it going?" Sonic greeted Sora, flashing him a cocky smile. He extended his hand and Sora took it, feeling an immense amount of energy flowing through this tiny animal's hand.

Sora was about to return the greeting until the doors to the courtroom slammed shut. Everyone was immediately silenced by the loud bang and the clunking of a wooden leg. The grizzly man was walking up to the judge's bench, turning around on the spot. He was holding a rather tall walking stick that came up to his chin. The most noticeable thing about this man were his eyes: one was small and dark, and the other was a vivid, electric blue. It was continuously moving around, swiveling to the back of his head and other odd directions.

"All rise for the honorable judges!" he shouted, catching everyone off guard.

Everyone quickly rose to their feet, confusion evident on their faces at hearing "judges" instead of the singular. But the doors to the courtroom opened and in walked the judges.

The first was a man wearing a blue skin suit, a medal pinned onto his left pectoral, and a black and red helmet walked in. A lot of the people in the crowd all began to shake, knowing this man and being all too familiar with his tactics. He walked up to the bench and he sat on the left side.

The second that walked out was only wearing a long, black cloak, round tinted glasses, and a black hat. All of the people in the crowd that were not of the norm, all began to cower in fear. Everyone knew Judge Doom for his strict hand in law enforcement. He swaggered up to the bench, taking his seat on the left side.

With the two judges seated, the grizzly man guarding them tapped his staff once and everyone was back in their seats. With another tap, the seats moved around the room to form a circle, each aisle of seats being higher than the one before it. Getting a nod from the judges that it would be okay to proceed, he tapped his staff again and a whole opened up in the middle of the courtroom. A metal crank could be heard turning and struggling with weight. A large metallic chair was now in place of the hole, chains and ropes adorning it. There was a man chained up into the chair, his arms and legs restricted by chains and a blindfold over covering his eyes.

"So, _this _is the rotten, filthy scum that has caused so much trouble. What does he look like to you, Doom?" Dredd addressed his fellow judge, pulling his Lawgiver out of its holster, the handgun shining brilliantly in the light.

"He looks like a waste of time, if anything. We could just end his life right now, and spare everyone of the pointless, antagonizing story of the crimes he committed." Doom dropped a large bucket Dip on the counter of the bench and looked to Dredd.

"But I supposed we could give the people a little bit of information," Dredd told Doom, pulling out a manilla folder and pulling out some papers. "Dan Alexander: Age 22. Height: 5 feet and 8 inches. Weight: 163 pounds. Crime: Mass Genocide. Heart Possession. Theft of Hearts. Murder of 17 World Rulers. I believe that is enough for everyone to know. Let's end all of this." Judge Dredd pointed his Lawgiver at Dan Alexander and fired a shot, directly to his head.

The victim's head slumped over, but not even a second passed before he looked up at Dredd and Doom with a look of humor on his face. "You guys are too much!" he shouted hysterically. "I only allowed myself to be captured, because I learned the truth to Kingdom Hearts. All of its beauty and Light...all of it's bullshit." Dan Alexander sent a pulse of some blue energy out and the chains fell away from him. He stood up and stretched a bit, scratching the back of his dirty neck. "This was fun and all, but I really must be leaving now."

He started to walk towards the door but a busty, curvy woman wearing an inky, black skin suit stopped him. "You're not going anywhere, Dan Alexander." She smiled at him, raising her fist to attack him.

As soon as her fist was close enough, he grabbed and simply broke it with a flex of his fingers. He proceeded to laugh with glee as he tossed her overhead into the crowd of people. She crashed and continued to tumble and slammed into a wall.

"Why isn't anyone trying to stop him?!" Mickey shouted angrily, looking for the judges, but seeing that the two of them had already fled the scene. Growling, Mickey flipped over everyone and landed directly in front of Dan Alexander. Calling for the Kingdom Key D, he held it out in front of him. "You aren't going to leave this place, Alexander. Not after what you have done to everyone." Mickey was glowing with a golden aura.

Dan just released another laugh. "If you really think you can stop me, then go ahead and try!" He reached for Mickey who quickly whacked Dan's arms, breaking both of them precisely at the elbows.

Dan howled in pain, an released a crackling wave of blue energy. It washed over Mickey and the mouse king fell over, screaming in pain and agony. "Make me stop! Please! Kill me!"

Almost everyone in the crowd was silent and frozen to the spot, except for a few others. Sora was immediately at Mickey's side, throwing his Keyblade at Dan's face, the man wrenching back. Just as Dan was falling backwards a blue blur hit him square in his back, knocking the wind out of him. He could not speak or move and he simply fell over onto the ground, laying in pile. A large fireball was what struck him next, everyone in the courtroom being able to feel its intensity and heat. He evaporated all of Dan's clothes and majority of his flesh, leaving him to look in more disgusting than when he killed all of those innocent people.

"Hey, Mick, you all right?" Sonic asked the mouse, helping to his feet. "Thought we lost you back there."

"I'll be fine. We need to lock this guy back up. He's serious business, you know?" Mickey responded.

"Of course we need to lock him back up! But how and where? None of us know how to command the Chains of Walt, only Dredd does and he isn't anywhere around," Mario responded, sounding completely normal and scratching the back of his head.

"I guess we should probably find Dredd, then, right?" Sora asked, suggesting the obvious.

"Of course. He shouldn't be too far away," Mickey started, "knowing Dredd, he must be-"

Mickey's sentence was cut off by someone saying the word "Bang." Everyone turned to see Dan Alexander on his feet, his arms in the correct place and his skin healed. He was holding up his left hand in an imitation of a gun. He moved his thumb down and a barely visible stream of blue energy blasted all of them away except Mickey. They all found themselves paralyzed and Mickey found himself paralyzed also. Not from the energy, but from fear.

It was the first time Mickey was afraid of everything. He started to scream as tears were flowing down face, urine flowing down his leg. "Please! Stay away!"

"Welcome to the end, Mickey Mouse. Kingdom Hearts is awaiting." Dan placed his palm on Mickey's forehead and almost an instant later, blood shot out onto the wall behind Mickey. The king's eyes rolled up into the back of his and he fell over. The king was no more.

Everything went silent, Sora's vision was fading as he couldn't find his voice. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Link slashing Dan Alexander with a glowing, golden blade.


	8. Chapter 8

_Here you all go. This chapter is pretty short, but I just wanted to get this out of the way. I was listening to the Katawa Shoujo OST while writing the end of this and I got really sad. Other than that, enjoy your reading and review, please._

_Happy reading!_

__Chapter 8

"_Everything was there. Not a single trace of Light and not a single trace of Darkness. There was no space or time, nor gravity. This was something else. It was not Nothingness, but something more abstract...it definitely could not be defined by any mere word. Anyone that was here was not here, floating around the Void, but not floating. A second here would cause the conscious mind to be destroyed, but it did not exist. The Void, mind you. So how was it here? Who was here? Who was not there? And more importantly, how would you go about reaching the Void?"_

An impeccable Darkness engulfed the area and specs of Light started to break through. Stars started to form and planets and worlds were created, but there was a single body in the space surrounding everything that was catching his attention. It was his home and it would always be, no matter what happened within his life. Through all of the wars and slaying of friends, at least he still had his world and his mother there to comfort him. It was his sanctuary.

A man with long, messy brown hair and an equally messy beard was walking along the broken streets and houses of this peaceful world. He never knew when the war reached his home and he could not get there in time, but at least he knew the Guardians of the world were keeping the inhabitants of this place safe. His soft red eyes were absorbing everything he saw, noticing every tiny detail that was placed in front of him. He smiled as he passed a street corner, one which he and his childhood friends would hang out at when they had nothing else to do.

Before he knew it, he was already at his mother's house, his sanctuary. With a sad smile on his face, he held up his left arm and pointed it at the door. A thin, ruby red aura was beginning to form on his palm.

"I guess it is about time to get rid of my last memories."

He launched a ray from his and the house simply disappeared not a single trace of its existence being there. He turned away from the building, his spiky brown hair and bright blue eyes glowing with glee, his clean-shaven face lighting up like a child receiving his favorite toy.

"Goodbye, mother."

* * *

Sora was now gasping for air. There was a bright light shining above him and faces of people he did not recognize. After a moment of him getting used to the light and the people above him, he noticed a plethora of noises coming from almost every direction. Screaming, shouting, crying, demanding, questioning, it was extremely hectic wherever he was. Sora tried to sit up, but was immediately pushed down.

"Stop moving! We're making sure everything is all right," a feminine voice spoke to Sora, who proceeded to squirm. He was hit be a wrench and started rubbing his forehead and hissing in pain. "I told you to stop moving!"

"You're not really trained for this kind of stuff, are you?" an older mature voice of a woman spoke. Her tone was obviously condescending and the one who hit Sora picked that up quickly.

"What are you playing at, you old bag?!" she replied viciously, holding her massive wrench in a deadly manner.

"Will you two hold your tongues and quarrels until every injured person here is taken care of?" a soft voice spoke. The voice was so gentle and soft that all of Sora's pain was whisked away from that single question.

He opened his eyes and got a good look at the three women. The first one, who was holding a wrench, had long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She had bright blue eyes and milky skin. She was wearing a beige jumpsuit with the top off of and tied around her waist. Around her breasts was a black tube top. She was an attractive young woman, probably around Sora's age.

The next one, who he thought was the one the first girl was arguing with, had hair just as blonde as the first, except her hair was framing her face with shoulder length bangs. She had golden-amber eyes that held a valley of emotion within them. She was much more taller than the first girl and her body was more advanced, her shirt being rather low cut and a large amount of cleavage spilling out of it.

The third was quite possibly the most beautiful being he had ever seen before in all of his life. She had the same pointed ears as Link and Zelda, but her hair was a dark shade of brown. She was covered in pale skin and the contrast of her hair and skin just made her stand out, as if she were glowing. She stared into his eyes and Sora felt every small amount of pain leave him and he was filled with a feeling of health.

"It's good to see that you are awake, Master Sora," the she-elf said to him, smiling briefly before standing up straight. "I would like to apologize on the behalf of Miss Rockbell hitting you. Is your forehead all right?" She reached out to touch his forehead, but Sora stopped her.

"Yes, it's all right. Thanks for the work." Sora was finally able to sit up to get a better look at all of them. "So, who are you three, if you don't mind me asking?"

The girl with the wrench gave Sora a large intimidating smile and placed her wrench on her shoulder. "I'm Winry Rockbell. I'm a surgeon and leading automail engineer and mechanic. Sorry about me hitting you..." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "It's just a habit. But now I have to go check up on some of the others with prosthetic limbs. I'll see ya later!" She ran off and Sora was staring at her oddly before turning his gaze on the extremely busty woman before him.

"I'm the 5th Hokage, Tsunade. I am one of the ambassadors from the Realm of Six Paths. It's nice to meet you," she says this all firmly, give Sora a professional, yet casual, nod. "I'm the best medical ninja from our world. Speaking of our world, we have to get back there. We'll meet again, Sora." She made a strange hand sign and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Sora was about to look to the next one, but noticed that she was gone and when she left, he had no idea. He got off of the tiny makeshift bed he was resting on to start walking around the room. Several hundred of the ambassadors that were at the trial were injured severely. Some were still bleeding profusely, some had limbs missing, and some just had flesh missing, their body resembling a patched blanket. The sights, smells, and sounds were making Sora cringe. He was feeling something rising through his throat. He tasted the disgusting mixture of fear and the previous night's dinner and threw up on the floor, quickly running from the room. But the next room he ran into was one much more frightening, one that he did not expect.

* * *

It was a makeshift morgue, bodies laid out side by side and friends of the people who died surrounding their bodies, a majority of them crying, but a few of them just standing in silence. The group that immediately attracted Sora had Mario, Sonic, Link, and something that resembled a little green dragon. Sora walked up to the group and his worst fears came to life. The king of Disney Castle, the owner of the Kingdom Key D, the official Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness, was laying down on his back, an expression of panic and fear permanently etched into his face. The small group of people standing there noticed Sora and gave him a stern nod.

"What happened? Where is Dan Alexander?" he was looking at all of them worry written all over his face. His face dropped as he saw the sad and defeated looks on all of their faces. "What happened then? Tell me." He said this last part sternly.

All of the people there looked at Link before Mario started to talk in his deep voice. "Well, after you passed out, Link started to fight against Alexander. He was on par with him for about five minutes, until some other man appeared." Mario let out an audible gulp. "This man had wild, tangled brown hair and a beard to match. His eyes were a vicious shade of red. I don't think I've ever seen a red as evil. And he just walked up to Dan Alexander and absorbed him in his hand. He then walked over to the woman in the inky suit and threw her over his shoulder and tried to leave. At this point all of us were back on our feet and trying to stop this man, but he retaliated. He blew up a majority of the courtroom with a single wave of his hand. And the worst part is that I feel as if he was holding back his true power..."

Sora knew that this man was the very same who was haunting his dreams and was recently placed on to his Dive to the Heart. Sora's Heart was feeling constricted and he heard a faint chuckle somewhere within his mindscape.

"Does anyone else know about the King's death yet?" Sora asked them, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

"Not yet. We didn't want to cause a mass scale panic on every world and have people come out of hiding and start to attack people. It would be a much worse disaster than when Xehanort was taking over," Sonic replied. "If we are to tell anyone of this, it would first have to be Minnie and the inhabitants of Disney Castle. She should be the one to tell others of her husband's death."

There was a silent agreement as Sora left the room to find the Universal Rift's communications room.

* * *

"Excuse me, sir? You aren't supposed to be back here." A skinny man with a thick mustache was guarding the communications room while holding a night stick. "This room is off-limits to civilians, I'm going to have to ask you to leave unless you have permission from one of the judges."

"He's with me, get out of the way," Mario spoke up from behind Sora, automatically appearing behind the brunette.

The man took a single look at Mario and just started to laugh. He was doubled over and it took him a moment to catch his breath enough to reply. "You...you...you're tiny! What are you going to do, little man?" He stood up straight and extended his night stick, pointing its tip into Mario's face.

Mario just smiled at the man beneath his mustache. The night stick shattered and, to the untrained eye, it looked as if Mario did not move at all. The skinny man's eyes grew in fear as he fumbled with his keys to unlock the door. "Don't-a worry about-a that!" Mario told him cheerfully as he walked up to the door and punched it, the metal door about three times the size of the short man flying straight off the hinges.

"Yikes. I knew he was strong, but not this strong..." Sora said to himself before following Mario into the communications room.

"All right, let's see here. Disney Castle...Disney Castle..." he typed in all of the coordinates and Mickey's code. After about five seconds a ringing could be heard and Minnie's face popped up on the large screen in front of them. "Hey, Minnie. Do you think you can get Chip and Dale to bring you over here in a gummi ship? We have to show you something and it's your responsibility to know first."

"Oh, sure. But where is Mickey?" Minnie asked nonchalantly, obviously not knowing the seriousness of the situation.

"Er...that's kind of what we need to show you. Just get here as soon as you can," Sora told her, his voice shaking a bit.

She caught on to his voice and her expression became serious. "I'll be there right away." She logged off and quickly ran to the Gummi Hangar to get Chip and Dale to fly her to the Universal Rift.

"This is going to be a train wreck." Mario left the room and Sora just stood there for a moment, thinking about what happened.

_Why, Mickey? Why?_

* * *

They managed to clean up all of the blood off of Mickey's frozen face, but just in time to hear the doors fly open and to see a female mouse run over, tears flying from her eyes, her elegant dressed torn at the knees, and face distorted into pure grief. She crashed into Mickey's lifeless body and fell on top of him. She looked into his dead, empty eyes and started to talk to him.

"Everything's going to be all right, Mickey. We're going to follow your retirement plans as you want to. We're going to leave the castle in the care of friends and go into retirement with Mario and Peach, relaxing until the end. We will have nothing to worry about ever again," Minnie cooed to Mickey, holding him into her chest.

Mario tried to speak. "Minnie, I'm-"

"Doesn't that sound like a great idea, Mario? We could all swim together and drink lemonades in old fashioned rocking chairs. Just the way you wanted to, Mickey. We grow a beautiful garden and have all of our friends over for holidays and have nothing to worry about. You could still give up the Keyblade and everything will still be all right. And then, when we're ready, we could both die together. Just like how we planned, Mickey."

The sight of Minnie crying over Mickey's body was tearing everyone apart. No one had ever seen Minnie act in such a manner. Sora stepped to her side and got down onto his knees.

"Minnie, everything will be all right. Tr-" Sora started, but was stopped short as Minnie latched herself onto Sora, crying heavily into his chest. He held her tight as he felt tears coming out of his eyes, the hot liquid pouring down his cheeks as he and Minnie started to sob together.

All of the grief and anguish in the atmosphere was so thick. Soon after that everyone in the group surrounding Mickey all began to cry, not to the same extent, but crying nonetheless.

* * *

Somewhere far away, in the darkest most secluded pit of Darkness was a monster waiting for its moment to attack. Staring into a massive green orb was a woman that placed fear into the Hearts of most that she came into contact with. Maleficent was watching the entire scene break down.

"This is just too perfect! I was finally able to create the perfect being and now I have the perfect opportunity to use him." She held her staff to the floor and a large black pit opened up. A roar was heard from the pit, yellow-green eyes shining up from the bottom, staring at Maleficent. "So beautiful, you are, my child." She closed the hole and left the chamber, laughing all the while and sending chills down her assistant's back who was hiding around a corner.

"Jeez, Maleficent sure can be creepy," Pete said to himself before walking in the direction of the kitchen.


End file.
